Helix
by Weener1
Summary: A beacon. A code. The girls are chosen for an alien reproduction plot. Sinister forces are about, but from the terror comes a ray of hope...
1. G1

**Here I am! Back with another mysterious, not-very-accessable tale of supernatural whatnot! I hope you all enjoy my story of bizzare science and discovery.**

**On with the show!**

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Even the greatest of experiences can be broken down into its component parts. The clear basis of every experience are the people involved. Although they may differ, delving further in we see that we are not so different. The most base components are shown to be far more important than what is currently taken as canon dogma by general society. Once again, we explore a chapter of the great Cosmic Codex in order to reveal our origins. The future as seen through the eyes of a few chosen individuals. I now present to you:

**Helix**

It was one of those rare, extremely clear nights that Kaorin lived for. On nights like these she would slide open her bedroom window and, using her telescope, gaze into the night sky for hours on end.

From there she would observe the stars, constellations, and watch for meteors and other astronomical anomolies. That night she watched the stars and pondered the mystical beauty of them.

_'So entrancing...'_, she thought.

Indeed, stars do give one a certain feeling of peace and comfort, yet they also make us aware of our mortality. We are naught before the great expanse of space. Simple carbon imprints upon a small world whirling through nothingness.

Whilst focused on one particularly lovely set of stars, her eye was caught by a bright flash close by. The brightness easily eclipsed all the other pinpoints around it. She turned her telescope to look directly at the light. That's when she realized.

"A supernova!", she squeaked happily.

Not only was such an occurance rare, she was lucky enough to witness one just as the light reached Earth. As she watched she thought.

_'I wonder who else is looking at this right now...'_

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At that exact moment, one girl stared into the sky as well. She had been finishing her homework but a compulsion caused her to gaze out her window at the exact moment the supernova flared in existance.

"Wow...wonder what that is.", Chihiro whispered.

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"I'm not that stupid, am I?", Tomo droned as she lay on Yomi's bed, staring out into the night sky.

"Yes, you really are.", Yomi answered as she finished the last translation needed for her English assignment.

"Pfft...sure.", Tomo said before getting to her knees and pointing to the sky. "Holy crap, Yomi! What's that!?"

Yomi sighed and walked slowly to her friend. She was sure all Tomo had spotted was an airplane or some sort of bird. And, knowing Tomo, she would think it was aliens or something. As she looked to where her friend was pointing she noticed one star far brighter than any other.

"Hmm...I think that's what they call a supernova.", she said.

"What the hell is that?", Tomo questioned.

"It's the end of a star's life. It explodes."

"Holy crap! Stars explode!?"

Yomi nodded in confirmation.

"God damn! Why didn't I know that before?"

"Because you don't listen in school.", Yomi answered, walking to her desk to put her schoolbooks away.

"Not my fault nature decided to fill my body with beauty instead of smarts.", Tomo said, turning onto her back and kicking her feet in the air.

Yomi just stared at her wild friend and smiled.

"Sure."

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Sakaki had been out walking with Chiyo and Tadakichi-san. This was the part of the day that seperated a good day from a bad one. Simply having the oppertunity to walk with her friend and her adorable animal she felt blessed.

"This weekend I have to go into town to get some new clothes. Would you like to come with me, Sakaki-san?", Chiyo asked her taller friend.

"That would be nice.", Sakaki answered. She always loved having time to spend with Chiyo. It was like having the little sister she never had.

Being an only sibling took its toll on Sakaki growing up. Always cast aside or regarded as a strange and amazing sight by her peers made her quite lonely and disallusioned. Having Chiyo and all her other friends acted as a catalyst for her newfound joy and energy. Even if she didn't show it outwardly.

"Wow, Sakaki-san! Look!", Chiyo pointed happily into the night sky.

Sakaki followed her uplifted finger to view a great, shining star that seemed to ebb and flow like it was something unstable.

"Wow...it's so beautiful.", Sakaki commented.

"I think it's a supernova. A very rare sight!", Chiyo piped up.

"Amazing...", Sakaki whispered.

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Kagura turned the final corner towards her home. She broke into a sprint.

_'I'm going to beat my old time!'_, she thought through her exhaustion.

Upon reaching her house she stopped and stood catching her breath. Checking her watched she pumped her fist in glee.

"All right! Five seconds faster!"

There she stood in the cool air. The slight breeze cooled her heated body as she look into the sky.

"Hmm..cool.", she commented as she noticed the bright star in the sky.

She let the sight pass though and walked inside.

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Osaka stood in her yard and, with binoculars, scanned the sky for the one thing she absoutely knew was up there.

Aliens.

"They gotta be comin' by here soon.", she said.

She turned her spectacles from side to side. Then it happened. The light in the sky shined brightly which caused her heart to nearly jump into her throat.

"Alien spaceship!", she nearly shouted.

She watched intently in anticipation of it moving or sending out some beam to suck her up. She was terribly disappointed when it made no action.

"Oh...that's no fun...", she whimpered and reentered her home.

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By the next day, each had all but forgotten the supernova. Kaorin had written about it in her diary, but that was the closest to a cognicent memory that any of them had.It was the start of the weekend and, like any high schoolers, decided to spend time with their friends.

Yet, for Yomi it was simply another day. She could never rid herself of Tomo, no matter how hard she may try. So, in addition to keeping her up late the previous night, Tomo burst into her room at an ungodly early hour of the morning.

"Wake up, Yomi!", she screamed loud enough to wake the neighborhood.

Yomi turned over in her bed and regarded her friend with sleepy, yet demonically angry, eyes.

"Why? Please just tell me why the hell you have decided to wake me at 8 A.M.?"

"I need some new underwear and you're coming with me!", Tomo answered.

"Oh, for the love of...", Yomi buried her head under her pillow. "Then why do I have to come?"

Tomo's face went blank. "Who else am I going to show off to?"

"Get a boyfriend maybe?", Yomi suggested, her voice muffled.

"Nah! You're more fun than any stupid guy!", Tomo laughed.

Yomi sighed beneath her pillow. "Just let me get dressed."

Tomo turned her back as her friend disrobed from her sleeping clothes and got into her daily wear.

"Hurry up!", Tomo chided.

"Ok, ok. I'm ready.", Yomi said.

Dealing with Tomo was like dealing with a naked baby. Running everywhere. Never stopping for anything. Yomi realized by now that to keep Tomo in line all she needed to do was keep her on a tight proverbial leash.

Yomi didn't leave the house without grabbing a few bills. She didn't plan on spending any money that day, but sometimes she saw something she simply had to purchase.

Tomo was the first out the door, unsurprisingly. Yomi tagged behind her as Tomo bragged about all the sexy lingerie she would buy. Yomi ignored this, knowing full well that Tomo did not intend in any way to buy lingerie.

"...Then I'll get the ones with the lace and...Are you even listening?", Tomo asked Yomi, noticing her far-off gaze.

"No, because I know you're not even going to buy that kind of stuff."

"That's what you think!"

Yomi knew that now Tomo would buy that lingerie. Just to spite her.

As they rounded a bend in the road, they nearly collided with a man walking the opposite direction.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!", Tomo accosted the man.

"Ah! There you are.", he seemed to hiss.

He was not an odd looking fellow. At least, his clothes weren't. He wore a normal, Western-style suit. His hair was a slick black. Problem was, so were his eyes. They seemed limitless, as if they were abyssal pools of oil.

Noticing this, Tomo recoiled.

"Who are you?", she said in a frightened tone.

The man stretched his hands towards them.

"You saw the beacon. Come, discover what the future holds."

"Weirdo!", Tomo yelled, grabbing Yomi and taking off at a run.

They did not get far. Soon the world seemed to collapse as both girls lost conciousness.

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Kaorin had promised her best friend, Chihiro, that they would go see a movie together. It had been at least a month since they had properly spent time together and each was looking foward to the other's company.

"Mom! I'm going out!", Kaorin yelled into the kitchen.

"Where?", her mother yelled back in that concerned motherly tone that all parents have.

"To the movies with Chihiro-chan!"

"Ok, have fun.", her mother said.

To Kaorin, this day was a good one. She and Chihiro had been best friends since the end of grammar school. She never was one for meeting people, being shy and all, so having a constant friend was a godsend to the girl.

Chihiro, who was sitting in her kitchen awaiting Kaorin's arrival, was also pleased to be spending time with her friend. She found Kaorin interesting, she couldn't quite place it, but something about the girl made her a joy to be around; even if she did act bizarre sometimes and was prone to random outbursts of anger. Kaorin acted as a catalyst for her teen angst. Any feelings, she immediately confided in Kaorin. Because, to tell the truth, she knew Kaorin felt the same way. When she thought she had emotional baggage, she was sure Kaorin had an entire luggage set. Such a thought was comforting.

There was a knock at the door and Chihiro jumped to answer it. Seeing as it was Kaorin, she quickly slipped on her shoes and went out to meet the girl.

"Morning, Kaorin.", she greeted.

"Good morning, Chihiro-chan.", Kaorin returned.

"How have you been?", the girl asked as they began to walk.

"I've been good. Ah!", Kaorin piped up, remembering the previous night. "I saw a supernova last night!"

"What's that?", Chihiro asked, not knowing much about astronomy.

"Oh, it's when a star explodes at the end of its life...It shines so bright. Very romantic.", Kaorin mused.

"I think I saw that too! It was really bright.", Chihiro said.

"Yes, the beacon is amazing.", came a masculine voice from behind them.

They turned to see a man, dressed in a simple gray suit, standing and smiling. He let off a feeling almost as terrifying as Kimura.

Kaorin let out a petrified yelp and she backed away slowly, holding Chihiro's hand to keep her close.

"Please, come with me. You are worthy of advancement.", the man pleaded.

It was then that they noticed his black eyes. By then it was too late though, blackness closed in on them.

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Sakaki and Chiyo had spent the afternoon in a dowtown department store looking at clothing. Chiyo bought some new ware, Sakaki was simply content to follow the girl and peruse the clothing yet not buy anything.

"Do you think this would look good?", Chiyo asked, hopping up to Sakaki holding a shirt striped blue on a white backround.

"It would look great.", Sakaki told her, blushing because Chiyo was 'just so cute!'

"Ok, I'll be back in a minute!", she chirped and hopped off to the dressing room.

Sakaki smiled. Chiyo truly was something special to her. She knew that Chiyo would be there when she needed her to be. So, in return, she would do everything she could to make Chiyo happy. Anything that made the little girl smile made her smile as well. She would protect Chiyo from any ill that should come her way.

She perused the various shirts on the racks as she waited. None fit her but she imagined Chiyo would look very cute in many of them. She awited Chiyo's return with gladness, but that expectation soon turned to fear as she heard a muffled scream from the dressing room.

"Chiyo-chan...", she said as she walked into the back room and looked down the row of dressing rooms.

Standing before one of the open stalls was a man in a suit jacket. Slick hair and a rigid posture.

"Ah, there you are.", the man smiled as he saw Sakaki.

"Where's Chiyo-chan!?", Sakaki raised her voice for the first time in ages.

"I invited her to join us above. You will come as well.", the man spoke calmly.

"Let her go! I will not come with you!", Sakaki screamed as she rushed at the man.

"I did not ask a question.", the man smiled as the world turned black.

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Tomo awoke with a blinding headache and the bright lights above her made it no better. She turned onto her stomach and noticed she was lying upon a small cot. The sheets were a clean white. The whitest she had ever seen. Ignoring her protesting head, she sat bolt upright.

"What the hell?", she said groggily as she took in her surroundings.

The room was white. Not just white but almost iradescent in its brightness. She could not quite tell where the walls began or even where they were. Everything seemed to be one solid, neverending piece. The cot she was upon lie somewhere in the open. Reaching out, she could touch no walls but the floor did support her weight when she stepped upon it.

"What the hell is this!?", she screamed at the practically invisible ceiling.

"I'm glad you have awoken.", said a male voice from behind her.

She turned to see the same man with black eyes holding a blue, semi-solid looking slate and a stylus that seemed to be composed of light itself. Instead of his suit he wore a rather loose fitting blue uniform with an extravagant tailpiece and brass buttons down the front. He scribbled a few nonsensical lines on the slate with the stylus before speaking again.

"I'm sure you'd like to know why you're here."

"You're damn right I do! And where's Yomi?", Tomo accosted the man with a pointed finger.

"She's fine. Please don't worry. Here, please sit.", the man motioned foward with his hand and a chair composed of a white material that seemed the same as the room materialized out of nothingness.

Tomo glanced at the man, then at the chair before gingerly taking her seat.

"Let me guess, you're some alien that's come to do weird experiments on me! Well, I'm not gonna let you!", Tomo said defencively

"Not quite.", the man said, shaking his head and scribbling upon the tablet. "You are simply part of the group chosen to take part in the evolution of mankind."

"Cut the crap! What do you want with me!?", Tomo yelled, leaning foward in her chair.

"Your genetics.", he said simply.

"Why me!?"

"There are others. Many others. It is that when you witnessed the beacon, your genetic code was prepared for transcription. You are here to form a new breed of human.", the man explained.

"Ok, that's enough! I'm outta here!", Tomo took off at high speed directly away from the man. She would find her way out even if it killed her!

She ran and found nothing. As a matter of fact as she ran she saw the man ahead of her once more.

"How...did you get here so fast?", she panted.

"I never moved.", he said, still scratching on his tablet. It was beginning to bother Tomo. Yet, with no escape in sight she became furious.

"Just let me go before I have to kick your ass!"

"Do you want to die just like the rest of them left down below?", the man asked.

"What?", Tomo questioned.

"Our task here is to prevent an outbreak. We have to protect out creations, of course."

Tomo sighed in exasperation. All this was too much for her to handle.

"Explain!", she shouted.

"We created mankind. Well, I should say my ancestors created mankind. Our kind helped you evolve to what you are today. Without our assistance you would still be foolish cave dwellers."

"Uh...huh..", Tomo tried to grasp these concepts.

"A genetic dysfunction will soon destroy most of your race. So, we selected a few, using our beacon to alter your genetic code, as life-givers for the next generation of humans."

"No, no, no! I'm not having sex with anyone! Nuh-uh!", Tomo shook her head vehemently.

"We are not asking for sexual intercourse in the human way. Those with your altered code can reproduce in a far more civil manner. Through our research, we have devised a way for your type to reproduce using somatic cells rather than gametes.", the man explained.

Tomo stared, confused.

"In a language I can understand, please.", she said sarcastically.

"Rather than intercourse as you know it, this new method is a combining of any cell type. A far less...messy process."

"So...what do I have to do?"

"Since this process is completed through emotional sharing of two individuals, passion is still involved."

"I don't know any guys though.", Tomo said.

"No need.", the man shook his head as he continued to write notes. "In fact, two of the same gender is ideal."

"Aw! Don't tell me I have to have sex with a girl!", Tomo exclaimed.

"Not just anyone. The transmitter and reciever must share a bond. I'm sure you know what I mean.", it bothered Tomo that the man rarely looked at her. Even with his creepy black eyes, she would rather have him look at her than continue to write notes as he did.

"You mean...Yomi?", she asked, fully knowing the answer.

The man nodded. "It is a rather complicated process. Please, allow me to bring you to her where I can explain to both of you what must be done.", he placed the stylus in a holder on the side of the slate and hung the tablet from his belt as he approached her.

"Well, ok...Mr...", she was at a loss for words.

"We do not have names as you humans do. But you can call me Dagon."

He took her hand in his.

"This better be worth it...", she grumbled as they disappeared.

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**Ok, so maybe I'm going out on a limb for this one, but I've always wanted to write a story based on genetic code and combining that with the theory of alien seeding of the Earth. Anyhow, I hope you'll all enjoy this as it continues.**


	2. G2

**Ah, chapter two! And now to address some of my reviewers:**

**IcemanX: Sorry buddy! No porn in this one! Unless you like cell mitosis...**

**einootspork: Hmm...I guess this does show shades of 'A Space Odyssey' I didn't really notice that..**

**Anyhow, on with the story!**

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Osaka sat at the table and had not moved for what seemed like hours. Even for her, who never became bored, not knowing where she was was escpecially distressing. A myriad of conclusions swamped her brain.

_'Aliens...molemen...pickled beets...'_, needless to say, exploring her psyche would be like a trip on LSD, without the lingering side effects.

The air in front of the table shimmered and a man popped into existance. He was tall, slick hair, black eyes. The same man she had encountered in her yard before she fell unconcious and had awoken where she was now.

"Greetings to you.", the man said.

"Ah! Are you an alien!?", she questioned.

"Alien to Earth, yes.", the man responded.

"You finally come to take mah brains!?", Osaka was quickly becoming hysterical.

The man smiled. "No, we simply need your genetic code."

"You can't have it! It's mine!", she screamed.

"The choice is not yours to make. We will accomodate you in any way possible until the process has completed though.", the man explained, shuffling his feet in apparent nervousness.

Osaka shied away from the man. She wanted to run, but with no exit in sight she decided to stay put.

"But first, we must form a strong bond. Please wait a moment.", after speaking these words he disappeared into nothingness.

Osaka sat and stared into the space the man was but moments before, wondering what exactly she might be called to do.

"Mah genetic code...", she whispered. "Is that like...a game or summin'?"

Barely five seconds after the man had disappeared he returned to the room. This time though, another person stood beside him. And that person looked none too happy.

"Kagura?", Osaka spoke up.

"Osaka!", the athlete shouted. "They got you too!?"

"They wanna do summin' with my genetic code!", Osaka responded.

"Yea! That's what he told me too!", the athlete shot daggers at the alien man with a glance.

"Please, allow me to explain. Have a seat.", he motioned outward with his hand and a white chair coalesced next to the one Osaka was sitting in.

"Ok, Dagon. Tell us.", Kagura rolled her eyes and propped her feet on the table. She didn't feel escpecially threatened by the alien but she certainly did want to get home as quickly as possible.

Dagon went on to explain the nuances of his race's discovery of human somatic cell reproduction in exactly the same way it was explained to Tomo. Yet, he said one additional thing.

"With the two of you we must first forge a bond. Thus your progeny may take longer to form."

Kagura covered her face with her hands and sighed.

"You want me", she pointed to herself then to Osaka. "To make a kid with Osaka?"

"If you wish the human race to survive, then yes, you do.", Dagon nodded.

"Let's do it, Kagura. Might be fun. I mean, like, maybe our kid will have like six legs...or two heads..or..", Osaka mused.

"That's enough, Osaka.", Kagura said. "What's this bonding thing you keep talking about?", she addressed Dagon.

"Two participants must be receptive to the emotions of the other before the reproduction can begin."

"How we gonna do that?", Osaka asked.

"An integral part of the process. It begins now.", upon speaking the last syallable he was once more gone. The white walls were quickly replaced by meadows of waving grass, spread in all directions. Small hump hills, sparse trees, birds flitting through the air; all these made up their new surroundings.

"What the hell is going on!?", Kagura exclaimed, rushing about as if she would find an exit.

"This must be tha bondin' thingy he was talkin' about.", Osaka droned.

"Like a test or something?", the tanned girl asked.

"I dunno...", Osaka shook her head.

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Kaorin and Chihiro fell to a similar predicament. Instead of beautiful fields of grass, they recieved a damp, dark cavern. Kaorin was on the verge of hysterics and Chihiro was none to content either.

"What is he doing to us?", Kaorin weeped.

"He wants us to...reproduce..", Chihiro said the words with confusion heavy on her voice.

"I just don't get it...", Kaorin wrapped herself into a fetal position and lay there, crying on the cold rock floor.

"Dagon said we were close to the bond necessary to begin the process...I'm just not sure where to begin.", Chihiro droned, scuffing her feet on the ground.

Kaorin got to her feet, her anger rising within. "How? How the hell do you think we can do that!? Two women cannot reproduce! End of story!", she screamed.

"And what do you suggest doing?", Chihiro countered, her own anger aroused.

"Walk! We walk and find the exit from this cave or whatever this is!"

"How do you know there even is an exit? It's not like we walked in.", Chihiro said.

"Do you have any better ideas!?", Kaorin shouted.

Chihiro sighed. Admittedly, she had no better suggestions.

"Fine. Let's go."

They placed their hands on the wall and began to follow it. The damp stone beneath their fingers was unnerving but they had the feeling that they would have to get used to it.

"Stay close.", Kaorin said, grabbing Chihiro's hand in her own. "We have to stick together."

Chihiro nodded, her hopelessness suddenly and strangely abandoned.

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Sakaki slammed her fists on the table, shedding her normally quiet facade in the face of this new threat.

"Reproduce!? Do you know what you're saying? Chiyo-chan is a little kid!"

Indeed, Chiyo sat beside Sakaki, clutching her shirt and trying her best not to cry.

"Even to save the human race?", spoke the man.

"I have no reason to believe what you say, Dagon!", Sakaki threatened.

Dagon just sighed.

"You are already bonded well. When the time comes you will see the error of your ways."

With that he stood and disappeared. The chair he had been sitting in dissapated as well.

"Chiyo-chan, we have to leave.", she said, putting her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders.

"But...we don't even know where we are! We might get hurt if we try to leave!", Chiyo sniffled. "Maybe we should just do what he says...Maybe it is to save mankind..."

"Chiyo-chan.", Sakaki squatted to get eye-to-eye with her friend. "If it truly was to save humanity, why do you think he would have to abduct us?"

"I don't know...maybe..", Chiyo had no answers, only tears.

"We have to find a way out.", Sakaki took Chiyo's hand and they walked away from the table and into the bright room.

"I don't see any exit!", Chiyo whined.

"A door...", Sakaki whispered. "Any sort of door..." Repeating the words helped her concentrate on tasks. She was on the lookout now for anything that remotely resembled a door. She flashed images through her head of what an alien doorway might look like. She found herself imagining a sliding door made from the white material that the room was composed of. It seemed to make sense to her.

Suddenly, Chiyo shouted.

"Look, Sakaki-san! A door!"

Lo and behold a door that was the spitting image of what Sakaki had imagined seemed to form effortlessly before them.

"What do you think happened?", Chiyo asked.

"Don't worry.", Sakai said as she pushed lightly against the white doorway that seemed to float on its own.

Peeking through the crack she saw hope. It led to a hallway with discernable walls of a gunmetal colour. Plain black floors that shined so bright reflections could be seen led the way to a crossroads. One way left. The other, right.

Sakaki scanned down the passage one way, then the other. No sign of life. She stepped from the doorway with such stealth Lupin would be proud. Pulling Chiyo behind her, they both watched as the doorway they had gone through faded into the air.

Sakaki held her finger to her lips to signify silence and quietly tiptoed with Chiyo in tow to the intersection of the halls. Glancing down them, each was empty, yet they were lined with high windows halfway down the corridor. They would truly have to be careful.

Sakaki followed her gut instinct and took the path to the right, hoping it would not lead her wrong. Because, well, that would be very ironic.

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"I am not asking a question.", Dagon stated calmly, his expression, his tone, never changed.

"I'm not going to reproduce with Tomo!", Yomi raged.

"Our perfect specimens cannot go to waste. You must reproduce.", Dagon said.

"How the fuck do we do that!?", Yomi had truly snapped and was now shouting at the man.

"With your altered genetic code, it comes as a natural process to ones as bonded as you are. It is a pure emotional state that initiates the process.", Dagon answered.

"Yomi's pretty emotional now.", Tomo said, pointing at her angered friend. "Can't we just get this over with?"

Dagon shook his head sadly. "Anger is not a pure emotion. It is convoluted. Passion and love are pure emotions."

"But I don't love Tomo!", Yomi screamed, her voice cracking from the strain.

"Denial is a sign of truth.", Dagon smiled as the room and Dagon himself disappeared.

It was replaced by a pyramidal room made of carved stone. Upon the tapered ceiling was a cap of translucent material that looked to be either glass or crystal. Two open arches led from the room. One before them. One behind them.

Yomi finally broke. She fell to her knees, screaming in anger and despair.

"Why!? Why does this happen!?", she shouted, her voice full of tears.

Tomo grabbed her friend by the collar of her shirt and lifted her into a standing position.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Tomo shouted, frustrated at Yomi's lack of will.

Yomi stopped her weeping, gazing back at her best friend through her thick glasses.

"What do you want, Tomo?", she asked weakly.

"I want _you_ to stop whining and help _me_ find the way out of here.", she said as she released the grip she had on Yomi's collar.

"Which way?", Yomi asked.

Tomo pointed to the passage behind Yomi.

"Let's go that way."

Together they trudged through the archway and into a hallway of sandstone walls and ceiling. The passage continued to become darker and darker until neither could see even a few centimetres in front of them.

"I don't think this is the way out.", Yomi said.

"Mmmm...", Tomo grunted and they both turned and made their way towards the room they had started from.

Upon moving into the light again, Yomi noticed streaks of tears running down Tomo's face. Something had to be desperately wrong. Tomo never cried. Ever.

"Tomo, what's wrong?", Yomi asked her friend.

Tomo gritted her teeth and hissed. "This is stupid..."

"What?", Yomi questioned, seeing the desperation in the girl's eyes.

"All this effort! There's no way out! We were put here for a reason! No puzzles! No answers!", Tomo's anger quickly faded to a hopeless cast of her normal persona.

Yomi wrapped her right arm around Tomo and pulled her close. Together they stood, staring up at the crystalline cap of the pyramid.

"Maybe if we wait long enough, someone will help us escape."

A barely noticable shiver passed through each girl. Above, the crystal cap began to write in a gaseous light. They took a step back as a plume of energy connected the center of the room to the cap. From this pylon a small figure emerged.

It was a young, nude girl. Seemingly aged no older than eight. Her chestnut hair hung to her waist and ended in a small puff of spiked hair, not unlike Tomo's. She smiled happily at them from below two large, brown eyes.

"Mama!", she called, rushing to them. Only as she approached did the girls notice she was slightly transparent, as the ground was visable through her.

"Mama!?", Tomo and Yomi recoiled.

"Don't you know me?", the little girl questioned.

Yomi shook her head in negative.

"Never seen you before.", Tomo said.

The girl's eyes began to shine with tears before she erupted into a full-blown bawl.

"Mommy's don't know Koyomiko!", she whined.

"Koyomiko?!", Yomi's eyes flew open in an emotion caught between terror and confusion.

"Like...a little Yomi?", Tomo asked no one in particular.

"Your daughter Koyomiko.", the girl sniffled as she wiped tears from her see-through eyes.

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**Koyomiko is NOT my character. She is Funakounasoul's. I was granted permission to use her in this fic. All rights and privilages belong to Funakounasoul. **

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Dagon stood before the large screens and smiled.

"Those two are truly amazing.", Dagon stated, indicating the screen the showed Tomo and Yomi standing desperate in the large room.

"How so?", said another alien, who looked no different, looking up from his writing.

"They have already entered into S Phase.", Dagon stated.

The other man got up from his seat to take a closer look at the screen.

"So there was already materialization?", he asked.

Dagon nodded. "It won't be long before we have our first quadriribo."

"Should I inform command?", the other asked.

"No. I wish to see how this plays out first"  
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**I shall return tomorrow with another installment of "Azumanga Help Desk" , so be on the lookout for that.**

**-peace**


	3. S Phase

**Man, this chapter took a stretch of the imagination to write, so my apologies if it takes a stretch to understand. **

**Also, there is no, I repeat, NO sexual innuendo present in this story. This tale is not meant to suggest or emulate sexual intercourse in any way. (Sorry, I've had people say the story seemed a bit sexual). Yes, the story can be considered sensual in some parts, but it is simply based on emotion.**

**Anyhow, let us continue!**

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"There are still two in room twenty-eight.", Dagon told the other alien man. "Force them into G2 phase."

"Yes.", the other answered and, bowing slightly, exited through the rear door.

Dagon turned back to the computer screens that displayed the experiences of the other girls and smiled. Everything was going very well. He was about to get back to the business of modifying the G2 phases for each pairing when the door nearby the control console slid open. Stepping through, not immediately aware of his presence, was Sakaki and Chiyo. Noticing Dagon, they tried to retreat quickly, but the door has already slid shut and apparently locked.

"No need to run.", Dagon said. "This entire station is controlled by our minds."

Sakaki returned his relaxed gaze with a terrifying one of her own. "You're not the only one here?"

Dagon shook his head. "No, of course not. Like you have been told, we do not have names as you humans do. We are all members of the Dagon race."

"So you all...", Sakaki began.

Dagon nodded. "Yes, technically, we are all named Dagon."

Sakaki stood stiffly, Chiyo gripping the hem of her shirt. "What do you really want? Why do you force us to reproduce against our will?"

Dagon smiled. "For being so smart as to escape our holding cell...I will tell you. We do not wish to hurt any of our captives. We are but a dying race of males that need your progenies to populate our own race. It started ages ago when our ancestors were created on our home world."

He looked wistful for a moment. As wistful as an alien man with black eyes could.

"We were created as an quadroploid, quadoxyribo race. Our genetic code contains four copies of our chromosomes as well as our nucleic acid being composed of a helix of four. To populate our race we reproduced with women of a race whose code contained a helix of four, thus producing a child with a helix of four."

"What happened then?", Sakaki asked, pleased at finally getting answers.

"Then the war began. A rival planet destroyed much of our race, along with the planet we populated. The refugees travelled across the universe, seeking out a method of repopulating our race. Our ancestors came upon Earth. Seeing the euploid, ribo nucleic early humans of this world, we tried to reproduce with them. We thus produced a type of human with two chromosome copies and a dioxyribo helix code."

"You mean us?", Chiyo squeaked.

"Yes. But no matter how hard we tried, from there we could not produce an offspring with a code of four. Over time your code became stable and we were forced to retreat. Ever since our race has dwindled to an alarming number. Then we discovered somatic reproduction."

He took a step towards the girls, his arms open as if pleading.

"That is why we need human somatic cells to form an organism with a code of four. That is why we take only female humans. Two females beget a female. Two males will produce a male. We need your children to reproduce with. Our race depends upon it. That is why we take you."

"I will not let you use Chiyo to reproduce. I cannot let that happen. You lied to us once. I cannot believe what you say anymore."

Dagon frowned slightly.

"We need your code..."

With lightning speed he reached to his belt a retieved what looked like a syringe. With one fluid motion he jabbed it into Sakaki's neck and, after depressing the plunger to administer the fluid, tossed the empty away.

"...to continue our conquests."

Sakaki fell to the floor, seemingly unmoving. Chiyo began to scream in terror.

"What did you do!", she screamed.

"She is fine. But if you two do not consent I will have to perform the process myself."

He grabbed Chiyo about the waist in strong arms and hoisted her over his shoulder. None of her kicking, screaming protests seeemed to affect him. Using his other hand he gripped the back of Sakaki's shirt and effortlessly lifted her as well.

"Let us go! Let us go! HELP!", Chiyo screamed for help as Dagon carried them out of the room, his face emotionless. With a trotting pace, he carried the girls through brightly lit hallways, passing at least five other emotionless men that seemed to be clones of one another. Upon reaching another door, Dagon stepped through it.

Inside the room was furnished as a laboratory. Vials, odd substances, and other mechanisms that suggested scientific experimentation. He carried them to the back of the room. There stood two contraptions that looked torturous. They consisted of a network of metal bars set up in a way that made them look like spiders, rearing back to attack. In the center was a metal seat, complete with belts.

Dagon dropped Sakaki into the left machine. He forcibly pushed Chiyo into the other, strapping across her chest with the belts, preventing her movement. All without so much as a grin or sound he pulled her arms wide and clamped them into two cuffs that held them tight. Her index finger of her right hand was then clamped into another cuff that pressed on the top joint, stopping any movement. He repeated the process with Sakaki's unconcious form. Although, he clamped her left index finger so hers and Chiyo's were nearly touching.

"Stop this! STOP!", Chiyo continued to scream and cry as she fought futilely against the restraints.

Dagon stepped back for a moment and placed a set of dark goggles on his eyes. He then retrieved a device that looked similar to a cigar cutter. Bringing this foward he pressed it against Chiyo's finger. Chiyo writhed in pain as the device clipped away layers of her skin, one at a time. What was left was a small depression of raw, open skin that did not bleed. He repeated the process on Sakaki. Upon completion he moved the clamps slightly so that the raw pieces of both fingers were touching. Chiyo continued to close her eyes and whimper in pain and terror.

"It will be over in a moment.", Dagon said offhand to Chiyo.

He picked up a pre-filled syringe and administered the drug into Sakaki's arm. She awoke, yet she was not fully aware. She head still lolled in a groggy state and the only sounds she made were pained moans.

"Sakaki-san!", Chiyo called to the girl, trying to garner her attention. It did not work.

Dagon stepped to a console beside the machines. He turned knobs, flicked switches, typed lines of code as a loud buzzing erupted in the room.

"All will change in a moment.", he spoke as he pressed the final button.

A wave of energy flew through each girl. Chiyo lay her head back in ecstacy. It was not the great pain she expected to feel. Instead everything pleasurable spread through her body. Every happy feeling, every physical pleasure erupted in that moment to form a new, more complex, type of glee. She couldn't help but smile. Sakaki had a similar reaction. Feelings she had not felt in ages were brought back as her body ad mind were flooded with euphoria.

Dagon stepped closer to examine the bright pinpoint of light forming between the touching fingers of the girls. He waited, watching the girls smile as their brains were stimulated with feelings of love and joy. He grabbed a hollow, transparent sphere from a rack beside the machines and held it close to the pinpoint of light.

He grabbed their fingers and pulled them apart from one another. In the same motion he captured the light within the hollow sphere, closing it with a snap.

The buzzing in the room subsided and the girls' facial expressions still held lingering signs of joy on them.

They were exhausted though. Physically and mentally exhausted. Neither seemed to be able to keep their eyes open. All they could see was the blurry form of Dagon place the sphere containing the spark of light into a device that resembled a glass enclosed shower stall.

Dagon placed the spark into the formulator and set the dial to age the specimen. He activated the device just as another alien burst through the door. Although his face did not express worry, his voice did.

"Specimen A-3 is close to inseperation!"

Dagon stood, aghast at what the man was saying.

"That shouldn't happen under controlled conditions! What went wrong?", he asked.

"The bond was too strong."

"Impossible!", Dagon exclamined. He glared at the semi-concious Sakaki and Chiyo before running from the room, following the other man.

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Kagura sat beside Osaka on a small grassy knoll. Even though they had been a while without food or drink, neither felt hungry nor thirsty. Seeing no method of escape, they had spent their time discussing different subjects. Flying squirrel to dinosaur poop. One thing led to another and eventually the discussion came to friendship.

"Do you really feel like no one cares?", Kagura asked.

"Uh-huh.", Osaka nodded her head sadly. "All this time ya'll just think I'm dumb. I ain't dumb though. I just think 'bout stuff that school doesn't judge smarts by."

"Maybe you should be an inventor?", Kagura suggested.

"Nah...I dun think the world needs a horse shavin' machine.", Osaka stated.

Kagura thought deeply for a moment. "Only you, Osaka. Only you could come up with something so out of this world."

Osaka looked at Kagura, the hurd evident in her normally blank eyes. "See...ya'll just think I'm dumb..."

Kagura waved her hands in protest. "No,no! That's not what I meant. What I meant was that only you have a mind that can come up with such creative ideas. I bet you no one else would ever think of something like that."

"Really?", Osaka asked, sheepishly.

"Yeah! When it comes to new ideas, you're very smart! I guess everyone has their own kind of intelligence. Since we're not all the same anyhow...", Kagura mused.

"Yer good at statistics and stuff. Like...I could as 'bout any sports player and you'd know right away all sorts of things.", Osaka pointed out.

"...What good is that though?", Kagura asked.

"Memory.", Osaka tapped Kagura's forehead. "Ya got a good memory."

Kagura smiled. "I guess it's just selective."

Osaka leaned foward, clutching her legs to her chest as she watched the endlessly moving clouds.

"I guess we're all good fer somethin'."

"Yeah...It sucks that I didn't spend a whole lot of time hanging out with you before this.", Kagura said.

"I know whatcha' mean. Yer really smart and fun to talk to.", Osaka said with a smile towards her new close friend.

"You're not so bad yourself.", Kagura joked, ruffling Osaka's hair with her hand.

Osaka smiled and decided to take action on an impulse. She had always loved hugs, but ever since high school she had only been able to hug Chiyo-chan without others looking at her like some freak. She had been wanting to hug another one of her friends, because in her eyes friends should express their love for one another. So, at that moment she wrapped her arms around Kagura's waist and lay her head across her chest, smiling.

Kagura was caught off guard by the action, reacting with surprise at first but then settling into placing her arms around the rather far-off girl and holding her in an awkward embrace. Hugs were foreign to Kagura. Her parents were never very openly affectionate to her and in her school years her friends nary showed any towards her either. This was the first hug she could actually remember. Thus her blush and smile was not unwanted.

Was was odd though was how the sky began to dissolve, ripping apart like oil and water.

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Kaorin and Chihiro slumped to the rock ground, panting and exhausted. It seemed to them that they had walked endlessly. No outside light could be seen, the only illumination came from odd patches of luminescent algae that clung to the ceiling, casting an eerie brackish light. Tired, the girls sat and spoke.

"We're doomed!", cried Kaorin.

Chihiro hung her head. "I don't think there is supposed to be a way out."

"Exactly!", Kaorin said, her voice high with panic. "We're stuck here forever!"

"I don't think forever...but there's no one else I'd rather be stuck with...", Chihiro lowered her voice as she spoke the last part.

Kaorin's laboured breathing began to slow. "What do you mean?"

"Kaorin-chan, how long have we been friends?"

"Um...a long time?", she smiled nervously.

Chihiro chuckled. "You've forgotten, haven't you? It's been almost eight years."

"Has it really been that long?", Kaorin asked.

Chihiro nodded sagely. "Do you remember how we met?"

"You shared your lunch with me.", Kaorin giggled. "And we found out we watched the same anime."

This fact made Chihiro smile. "That's why I can think of no other person who I'd rather be with. We've been together a long time, and even now I worry for you."

Kaorin raised her eyebrow. "What?"

Chihiro looked at her friend pleadingly. "Sometimes I feel left behind. The way you obsess over Sakaki-san is really sad...It makes me feel like you've forgotten me."

Kaorin shook her head. "No, not at all! It's just...", Kaorin turned red and tears came to her eyes as she tried to compose her next words. "I want Sakaki-san...I want her badly..."

"That doesn't mean you have to forget the person that has always been there for you and helped you when you had a problem...", Chihiro spoke sadly.

"Chihiro-chan...I won't forget you but...I love Sakaki-san. My heart is with her..."

Chihiro erupted. She grabbed Kaorin by the shoulders and shook her.

"How can you love someone you barely know!?"

"I love her Chihiro! Why are you so upset!?", Kaorin countered.

Chihiro stared deep into Kaorin's eyes as her own orbs dripped tears.

"Because I love you, Kaorin-chan."

Kaorin's eyes hung open so long it was a wonder they didn't dry and shrivel up.

"You love me?"

Chihiro nodded.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Scared...I felt that if I had said anything, you would reject me in your lust for Sakaki-san."

Kaorin embraced her friend, feeling complete for once.

"I love you too, Chihiro-chan. At least you love me back..."

"Kaorin-chan?", Chihiro whispered.

"Yes?", Kaorin asked, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Chihiro pressed her lips against Kaorin's. It will blissful as an electric feeling passed through each of them. A new love born from chaos.

In the heat of the moment, neither noticed the rocks slowly fading away, dissolving as if in acid.

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**Sappy, I know. But it's so cute! Don't you think?**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"You love me...don't you?", Koyomiko asked through teary eyes. Her form had become solid now, so the tears ran down her cheeks instead of through them.

Tomo and Yomi shared a glance.

"Of course we do.", Yomi cooed. She could not deny how adorable the little girl was. If in fact is was their daughter it would be their responsibility to make sure she was safe.

Even Tomo spoke sweetly to the girl. "We love you, Koyomiko."

She ruffled the nude girl's hair which caused a rather placid smile to cross Tomo's face.

It was about this time that the girl noticed she was naked.

"Ah! I'm naked!", Koyomiko cried.

"Once we get out of here, we'll get you some clothes ok?", Yomi said.

As strange as the situation was, neither Tomo nor Yomi felt the girl would be a burden. It almost was if motherly emotions came naturally.

"Yay! I love you, Mommys!", she hugged each girl in turn. Smiling as her head rested on their stomachs.

"Now if we only knew how to get out...", Tomo mused.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to abort the process.", spoke a voice.

Standing before them were two of the alien men. The one who stood futher towards them held a metallic, syringe-like device in his left hand.

"What the hell!?", Tomo asked, surprised at their sudden arrival.

Koyomiko stood beside Yomi, her face contorted in an angry frown.

"We have to take your offspring. There has been a problem.", the man spoke calmly as he approached the three girls.

"No! Koyomiko stays with mommys!", the little girl cried.

"Ah, she has a name.", the man commented.

Koyomiko nodded swiftly.

"Which one of you gave it to her?", he asked.

"I've always had my name.", Koyomiko said.

The man paused, confused. Then he composed himself and raised the syringe-device toward Koyomiko.

"I'm sorry, I have to abort this.", he motioned for the other man to come foward.

The man grabbed Tomo with one arm around her neck and held her, gasping for breath as she fought back to no avail. Using his free hand he easily incapacitated Yomi by snaring her in a headlock.

"Leave her alone, you asshole!", Tomo screamed out at the man approaching the cowering Koyomiko.

"Let my mommys go!", she cried.

The man with the needle simply shook his head in mock sadness as he jabbed the device towards the girl.

Moments before impact, it stopped dead. The man stood, seemingly paralzyed from Koyomiko's brutal glare.

"Don't hurt anyone!", she spoke.

With brutal screams of pain, both men evapourated into wisps of smoke in an instant. Tomo and Yomi fell to the rapidly dissolving ground, gasping for breath. Koyomiko ran to them as the sandstone tomb dissipated.

"We're all safe now.", she said.

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**Of course, I'll have another chapter of Help Desk up in a day or so, keep an eye out!**

**Once again, Koyomiko is not my character. It is owned by Funakounasoul**


	4. Prophase

**Back with another entry! **

**Note: Koyomiko is not my character. She was created by Funakounasoul. All rights and privilages belong to her.**

**Anyhow, on with the story.**

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"Well, now.", Dagon stated, observing the blackened wreckage that was once the G2 phase observation screens.

"How does that even happen?", the other alien man asked as he clutched his fists in frustration.

"A bond is not supposed to form. Those girls must truly be pure to form a progeny as powerful as she.", Dagon said.

"What do we do?", the other asked.

"Find them, of course. We cannot let someone so worthwhile be lost."

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Chiyo was sure she had fallen unconcious, although she was not sure for how long she had been out. Her last memory was of Dagon placing a shining sphere within a glass enclosed contraption. Allowing her eyes to adjust to light once more she noticed that the glass enclosure across from her and Sakaki's metal prisons was shining with a radiant light.

"Sakaki-san? Sakaki-san!?", Chiyo called. She could not turn her head so the only thing she could do was try to awaken the older girl.

A groan eminated from beside her.

"Sakaki-san!", she called once more.

"C..Chiyo-chan?", Sakaki whispered.

"Sakaki-san! I'm glad you're ok but we really need to find a way out of here!", Chiyo said.

Sakaki struggled against the restraints to no avail.

"Where are we? What happened?", the older girl shivered. She was terrified, just as anyone would be, waking up strapped into an ungodly contraption.

"Sakaki-san, Dagon did something to us. I'm not sure what but it has something to do with that bright light over there. I...I don't know what's going to happen...", copious tears filled Chiyo's eyes as the sound of breaking glass filled the room.

The glass enclosure had shattered, sending spears metres away from where they had originated from. the light within faded quickly to reveal a nude teenage girl. Her face showed only confusion as she stared at the two girls across from her.

"Eh?", she squeaked.

"Help us! Please help us! We need you to let us out of here!", Chiyo pleaded to the girl.

"...Eh?", was all the girl said, cocking her head to let her long orange hair fall to the side.

"Can you understand me? We need your help!", Chiyo asked again.

The girl pointed to herself.

"Eh?"

"Yes! We need you to help us!", Chiyo said, her hope growing into a smile on her face.

The girl plodded foward, her steps small and awkward due to the fact she seemed to not be used to walking. She clomped over to where Chiyo and Sakaki were strapped, falling foward and placing her hands on Chiyo's shoulders she spoke,

"Ah!"

"Huh?", Chiyo was confused, gazing into the happy face of the rather odd girl.

The girl leaned foward and gave Chiyo a hug. That was when something clicked.

"Sakaki-san..."

"Yes?"

"I think...this is our daughter..."

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Existance seemed to literally throw them to pieces. At least, that's what it felt like. Kagura bounced head over foot along the polished black floor, finally coming to a skidding halt.

"Osaka!", she called, painfully pushing herself up with her forearms.

She saw Osaka sitting, a bit dazed only a few metres from her.

As a matter of fact, so were Yomi, and Tomo, and Kaorin, and Chihiro, and...a little girl?

"Mama! Mama!", the little girl shook Tomo and Yomi as they groaned to get to their feet.

"What the hell!", Kagura called out, running as fast as she could to the three standing girls.

"Kagura!?", Yomi exclaimed. "How did you get here?"

"And Osaka!", Tomo shouted.

"...And us too.", Kaorin added, mentioning Chihiro and herself.

"But...why us?", Yomi asked the air itself.

"Who's the girl?", Kagura asked, far more interested in that mystery.

"Oh, this is Koyomiko!", Tomo said, hoisting the girl into her arms.

"Yeah! I'm Koyomiko! Nice to meet all you!", the little girl chirped.

"Koyo...miko? ...She's naked.", Osaka mused.

"Where'd she come from?", Kaorin asked.

"Save that for later.", Yomi said, scanning their surroundings.

The room was large. It looked much like the inside of the compound, yet at one end was a massive wall with built-in doors large enough for one man. While at the other end was an immense open gateway. It bore a striking resemblance to an airplane hanger, yet with no planes present.

"Hey! That looks like a way out!", Tomo screamed, pointing her free hand at the massive doorway. Light could be seen further down the tunnel the door opened onto. A slight breeze could even be felt swirling throughout the cavernous hanger.

"Are you sure it's safe?", asked Kaorin.

"It looks safer than the alternative.", Yomi said.

"Well, let's go then!", Kagura prodded.

The girls proceeded to run towards the exit, with Tomo taking up the rear under the extra weight of her daughter.

"Faster, Mama! Faster!", Koyomiko giggled as she rode on Tomo shoulders.

"Geez, I'm trying!"

The breeze became stronger as they passed out of the doors and into a short underground passage.

"This is definately a way out!", Tomo reiterated.

Indeed, the girl was correct. Not long after they stepped out into the pure midday sunlight. Around them stood massive pines and firs, arrainged on a downward slope. From their vantage point they could see for many kilometeres across the wilderness.

"Looks like we're on a mountain.", Yomi pointed out.

"Guess the only way to go is down!", Tomo exclaimed.

"Not so fast. I wouldn't want to get lost in the woods now.", Yomi responded. "Does anyone see any signs of life?"

As they scanned, Osaka was the first one to pinpoint something.

"Over there!", she called out, pointing to the east. Upon further inspection it was seen that there was a small town visable at the base of whatever mountain they happened to be on. Although, they were still a fair distance away. Five kilometres at least.

"All right, Osaka!", Tomo congratulated the girl with a rather rough pat on the back.

"All right, Osaka!", Koyomiko repeated.

"Aww, she's so cute!", Kaorin said.

"She gets it from me.", Tomo smirked in a very un-cute manner.

"She really does need clothes.", Kagura pointed out. "Here."

She removed her sweatshirt and wrapped the cloth around the girl's body, passing it between her legs and tying the sleeves at the front. It looked like some sort of bizarre loincloth/jumpsuit combonation, but it fit the bill for the moment.

"Let's not waste any time.", Yomi said, leading the girls down the hill. Koyomiko rode on Tomo's shoulders due to the fact that she had no shoes. The air was chilly, but it was bearable for everyone.

"So, ummm...I guess you guys were told to reproduce too?", Kagura stated.

Yomi nodded.

"Yomi just gave me a freakin' hug and Koyomiko popped outta nowhere!", Tomo said.

"I didn't come from nowhere!", Koyomiko bopped her mother on the head.

"Weird...", Kagura droned.

"Me and Kagura got stuck togetha' and we just sat and talked.", Osaka said.

"Me and Kaorin were together as well.", Chihiro said.

"I guess they wanted us all...to reproduce...", Kagura shivered as they pushed their way through the brush.

"And I guess me and Tomo were the only successful ones.", said Yomi.

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They named her Kaede and she seemed quite pleased. It took many minutes to teach the girl how to release the straps and bangles that held the girls to the contraptions, but Chiyo and Sakaki were free not long after. They stretched their aching arms and decided action had to be taken; and soon.

"Kaede, we have to leave.", Chiyo calmly explained to their progeny. "Please come with us."

Sakaki led the way. It was slightly odd to her to begin feeling motherly instincts for a teenage girl that just happened to pop out of a rather enlarged test tube. She was even more amazed at Chiyo's ability to handle the situation.

_'I guess she knows more about motherhood than I thought.',_ Sakaki whispered in her own mind.

She assumed it stemmed from the fact that she took care of herself at home a lot. Chiyo even said so herself. Her father and mother were very busy people so she had learned to deal with household things on her own.

Sakaki quietly pushed open the door and checked the black-floored hallway in both directions.

"Dagon brought us from that way.", Chiyo said, pointing down the left corridor.

"Let's go the opposite way.", Sakaki said, motioning for Chiyo and Kaede to follow.

"Eh?", Kaede piped up.

"Shh! We need to be quiet.", Chiyo reprimanded.

They approached a closed door. Through it could be heard voices. At this sound Sakaki shoved Chiyo and Kaede flat against the wall, listening and hoping the men would leave.

"Where could they have gone?", said one voice.

"There is only one exit. We can only hope they will be there. Call command for flyovers of the mountain, leave no stone unturned. I want that girl back!", the other voice commanded, much stronger than the previous.

"Sakaki-san...", Chiyo whispered.

Sakaki acknowledged the smaller girl.

"Are they...talking about us?"

Sakaki shook her head.

"I do not think so."

"Does that mean...", Chiyo's eyes became cloudy. Kaede whimpered with worry and wiped the little girl's eyes.

"There are others...", Sakaki stated, her jaw setting solid with bewilderment.

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"What if the humans below see the craft?", the alien man asked.

"Have they ever done anything before? Of course not! And they won't start now.", Dagon answered.

"Yes.", responded the man, turning his back and retreating down the corridor.

Dagon turned off into a side hallway, headed for the communications room. He was sure command would not be pleased with him, but at the same time he was also sure they would be interested in what had transpired.

"Not often does one see such a psychic child...", he mumbled to himself.

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Koyomiko had fallen asleep. The girls were glad of this for moments before she had been whining.

"Are we there yet? I'm hungry!"

Each girl gave their respective "AWW!" to just how adorable she looked asleep on Tomo's shoulders. Tomo, on the other hand, was not quite so happy.

"Geez, she gets heavy after awhile."

"So, what's it feel like to have a kid now?", Kagura asked, crunching through one of the many patches of old snow they had encountered along their trek.

"Heavy...", Tomo answered.

"It doesn't feel as odd as I thought it would.", Yomi said.

"She really is very cute.", Chihiro said.

"She looks a lot like ya.", Osaka pointed out.

"Well, duh! She's our kid!", Tomo said.

Kagura had stopped ahead and was simply gazing out into the wilderness.

"Something wrong?", Kaorin asked.

Kagura sighed as she gazed across the forest from the top of the small outcropping. the town was more visable now, and was slowly getting closer.

"I just wish we knew where we were."

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**Just where are they!? Any guesses? Correct guesses get extra points!**


	5. Metaphase

**A strange thing happened to be today...In Genetics lab the topic was human genotypes and phenotypes and independent assortment of alleles. We had to use the phenotypic traits of ourselves and our 'spouses' to randomly produce a 'child' through coin flips to determine their allelic combonation of traits. It just so happened that me and my partner produced a female child that suspiciously resembled Koyomiko...dark brown hair, high metabolism, rather tall, poor eyesight (courtesy of me), dark eyes...etc. **

**Me: (a bit surprised at the outcome) A prophecy!**

**Partner: Huh?**

**Me: Oh, nothing. Just that our kid reminds me of a character someone I know created for a story they wrote.**

**Partner: What was her name?**

**Me: Koyomiko.**

**Partner: What's that? ...Chinese or something?**

**Me: It's a Japanese name.**

**Partner: Is your buddy one of those anime freaks or something?**

**Me: No, she was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon.**

**Partner: Oh.**

**YOU COULD CUT THE STUPIDITY WITH A KNIFE!**

**(cough) Anyhow, I thought that was kinda neat. Let us continue!**

**All disclaimers from pervious chapters apply here as well.**

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"Sir, the girl's mind has grown out of proportion.", Dagon spoke to the massive screen before him. It stretched across nearly the entire ten metre wall of the chamber. Upon the screen was displayed a man, not unlike any of the other Dagon excepting the fact that he wore a white uniform instead of blue.

"And you are sure she is tetrahelical?", the man on the screen asked, templing his fingers before him.

"Yes, Sir. She is definately a tetrahelix. Yet, psychic ability has evolved in her.", Dagon stated.

The man on the screen looked taken aback for a moment; his lips fell loose then returned to a stagnant position.

"How do you know this?"

"She was born with her name, Sir.", Dagon answered.

The man sat back in his chair and spoke.

"That's not possible."

"Sir, she said her name was Koyomiko and that she 'always had that name'."

The man on the screen fell silent a moment, as if in deep, disturbed thought.

"And now they are missing..."

"Yes, Sir.", Dagon stated. "I sent a man to call for flyovers of Shasta and the surrouding area."

"You know what to do when you find them, correct?", the man asked.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Do not let the humans know of this."

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Sakaki knew they had to hide somewhere. There had been far too many close calls as Chiyo, Kaede and herself wandered the halls of the compound. Many a time they had to crouch in the shadow of a doorway so that one of the alien men could pass by.

Up ahead Sakaki noticed a doorway leading to a large darkened room. Through the high windows on teh outside the room was lit with only a dim glow and looked to be unused.

"In here.", she said to Chiyo, who in turn pulled Kaede by the hand.

After they had entered and the door had slid shut behind them, Sakaki sat down by the door, exhausted. Her mind felt cloudy and that was the last thing she needed at the moment. She needed a concrete plan of escape; any sort of help she could find within herself. She blocked out all incoming sensations and focused. She felt that she desperately needed to focus. Yet, the one thing that could break her concentration was the one thing that occured.

"Sakaki-san!", Chiyo spoke loudly to get her attention.

She saw little Chiyo shivering and pointing. Chiyo's terrified face scared her but what she pointed to was far more horrifying.

In rows upon rows within the chamber were pod-like structures that contained the still and silent forms of many alien men. Some looked to be full grown. Others appeared teenage or younger. All were male and all stood within the glass pods simply staring outward with their black eyes.

"Oh my...", Sakaki was at a loss for words.

"This is what he meant!", Chiyo was hysterical. "He spoke of a conquest...this is it."

"Conquest?", Sakaki asked.

"This is the army! They're using daughters produced by humans to give birth to their own children."

"Eh?...", was all Kaede could add to the conversation.

"Sakaki-san, I'm scared...", Chiyo intoned to Sakaki, who was placid before the lines of men.

"There has to be something we can do.", Sakaki said.

"We can't just...destroy them. Who knows what would happen if we tampered with anything.", Chiyo said.

Sakaki advanced through the rows, gazing at each interred being in turn. Chiyo and Kaede were not far behind.

"We cannot just let this go though. Just think, we are probably the only humans ever to see this.", Sakaki said.

"Yes, but what if-"

Chiyo fell silent as Sakaki pulled her and Kaede behind the last row of capsules. Straining her ears, Chiyo heard the faint footsteps of someone stepping through the doorway of the room.

Chiyo placed her hand over Kaede's mouth just as she emitted a now muffled groan of "Eh?".

Sakaki leaned from behind the capsule to judge their new guest.

He was dressed like any of the other alien men, blue uniform, silver belt, but this man did not look alien. His hair was combed back like their captors but it was a light shade of blonde and spots of unshaven facial hair could be seen as well.

"Good evening, my brothers.", he spoke directly to the sleeping soldiers.

Sakaki immediately knew that this man was not an alien. He had to be a slave or some captured human, or so Sakaki thought.

"Ah, with all the ruckus around here lately, I'm sorry I didn't come earlier. I hear some girls escaped with one of the tetraheloids.", he said as he pushed a few buttons on the front of one of the glass coffins.

"I hear her name was Koyomiko or something. A highly psychic girl; her mothers were best friends I hear. I don't know their names but I hear one was sort of crazy and the other was a serious bookworm; you know, glasses and stuff. Japanese girls too.", he said as he continued to press the consoles attatched to the capsules.

Chiyo closed her eyes tight at the thought of who he may be speaking of.

He moved up the lines of capsules, pushing the buttons on the front of the glass and humming to himself. Chiyo wanted to move; she desperately wanted to move, but moving would definately give away their position in such a quiet room.

Two rows from their position the man raised his head to the ceiling and spoke.

"I know you're there girls. You can come out now."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagura decided that it was time to rest. After walking for multiple hours fatigue had taken a toll on all the girls. Koyomiko seemed to be the only one with energy due to her nap on Tomo's shoulders. All the others collapsed on the ground around the kindling Kagura had assembled.

"I learned how to do this when I was a kid.", Kagura said as she rubbed two sticks together, trying to create flame by friction.

"Mama, you look sleepy.", Koyomiko said.

"Yeah...I am!", Tomo said, her normal excessive energy drained by the trek.

"Sleep, Mama! Sleep!", Koyomiko piped up, walking over to sit by Osaka. "Hiya, Osaka Ba-chan!"

"Wha!?", Osaka recoiled. "Ya know mah name!?"

"MM-hmm!", Koyomiko nodded happily.

"Ehh...?", Osaka droned. "Tomo, why can she read mah mind!?"

Tomo sat up and stared at Osaka.

"Mind reader?"

"Uh-huh. None of ya ever told her mah name and she knows it. She even called me Ba-chan!"

Yomi walked over to her daughter and knelt down beside her.

"How do you know Osaka's name, Koyomiko-chan?"

Koyomiko seemed to think for a moment before answering.

"I just know it."

Yomi nodded darkly, afraid that Osaka may be right. It would also explain how she knew Tomo's name and her own. Yet, she decided to test the theory.

"Koyomiko, who is that?", Yomi asked, pointing to Kaorin.

"You know her name, Kaa-san. That's Kaori."

Yomi stood up, her jaw hanging in awe. That was the nail in the coffin, so to say. No one had said Kaorin's name, and by god, no one ever called her Kaori.

"That's amazing, Koyomiko!", Kaorin said.

"All right!", Kagura said with excitement as her efforts finally bore fruit. Her kindling had finally given in to the friction and had created a flame which was soon a blazing fire. The girls crowded around it to escape the growing chill of the night air.

"I'm going to try and get some berries or something to eat.", Kagura told the others, motioning towards the rapidly darkening forest.

"Dun' go alone! I'ma come too!", Osaka piped up and joined her friend as they ventured into the forest.

That left Yomi, Tomo, Kaorin and Chihiro to pepper Koyomiko with the questions they had been holding inside all day.

"Koyomiko-chan, how old are you?", Chihiro asked.

"Seven!", she said cheerfully whilst holding up seven fingers.

"How is that possible...That doesn't seem-", Kaorin began but Tomo was the one to interrupt her.

"How could you be born just today and be seven years old?", Tomo asked.

"Born today?", Koyomiko tilted her head in confusion. "I was born on November 1st."

"Unless time passed us by, last I remember-", Yomi began but Tomo finished the statement.

"Last I remember it was August."

"I've been here seven years now.", Koyomiko said, snuggling between Tomo and Yomi. "And you've always been my Mama and Kaa-san, don't you remember? I know you remember."

Tomo and Yomi exchanged glances and then smiled down at their new daughter.

"Of course. You're our daughter after all.", Yomi said, giving Koyomiko a kiss on the cheek.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That Koyomiko girl freaks me out.", Kagura said as Osaka and her pushed their way past a wall of ferns.

"Koyomiko-chan ain't natural, I'm tellin' ya.", Osaka mused. "She reads minds and stuff, that ain't normal."

"More than that though, she looks around seven or eight! If Tomo and Yomi only gave 'birth' to her today, how the hell does she come out at that age!?", Kagura said, expounding the statement with outstretched arms.

"We gotta keep an eye on her! Who knows what she can do?", Osaka said.

"I agree! I think she's something we don't want to be involved with. But, we can't just abandon Tomo and Yomi. ...Can't ask them to abandon their 'daughter' either.", Kagura said, trying her best to think through the situation.

"Just gotta keep an eye on her...", Osaka said, ruffling through a bush and pulling up a few red berries. "How are these?"

Kagura examined the berries and concluded they were not a poisonous variety. She had learned the skill in a summer camp when she was but a wee child.

"Just collect some of these and let's head back. They'll have to do for now.", Kagura said.

With their heads down collecting berries, the lights in the sky a kilometre away did not distract them from their work.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	6. Anaphase

**Sorry this is so short (and so late)! It's been crazy 'round here. Anyhow, I hope this is enjoyable.**

* * *

The berries Kagura and Osaka had collected did not provide much food, but under the current circumstances any food was welcome. Fatigue had overtaken much of the group. Sleep would be a welcome experience and Kagura had also suggested that it would be smart to continue early in the morning when they all had had their rest. The fire had to be extinguished so that any sign of their passing or location during the night would be covered from prying eyes. They knew sleeping would be difficult but even so, due to the encroaching cold air, each girl curled up next to another member for warmth. Chihiro lay on Kaorin's chest and each smiled happily. Kagura curled up next to Osaka, and although not romantically entangled, still shared body heat. Lastly was the new happy family of Tomo, Yomi and Koyomiko. The little girl curled up between her two mothers who in turn wrapped their protective arms around her. They were the first ones asleep. Kagura and Osaka had promised one another that they would stay awake to keep an eye on Koyomiko. This was not to be so. Osaka was asleep within minutes of lying down and Kagura soon followed, exhausted from the day's adventure.

Chihiro and Kaorin lie awake longer than the others; engaged in private conversation.

"I love you, Kaorin-chan.", Chihiro whispered to her friend.

Kaorin smiled and snuggled closer to her friend, who from the look in here eyes, had something more 'important' in mind.

"Everyone's asleep.", Chihiro noted with a sly grin.

Kaorin let herself be drawn in by her new girlfriend. All was lost in the darkness amongst a wave of feelings which Kaorin felt indescribable. And thus began the first intimate moment between the two girls. They tried their best to keep the 'experience' from being noticeable to the others, for it certainly would have been a surprise had anyone awoken.

Apparently they hadn't taken Koyomiko into account.

Whether the little girl did not notice or chose not to notice the activity that Chihiro and Kaorin were deeply involved in may never be known, but what is known is that even during the two older girls' 'adventure' Kaorin watched as Koyomiko approached the cliff edge nearby the camp and gazed into the sky.

Not wanting to garner any unwanted attention, Kaorin allowed Chihiro to continue with her 'business' as she continued to watch Koyomiko intently. She saw the girl raise her eyes to the sky and moments later the night sky was filled with clouds, plunging the area into an even darker cast.

She heard the little girl whisper, "Don't hurt anyone." And then watched as she returned to her spot between her mothers.

Chihiro raised her head for a moment and asked in a whisper, "Is something wrong, Kaorin?"

Kaorin shook her head with a smile.

"No, not at all."

* * *

"Sir, we have a infrared signature within these trees.", the one alien man said, directing his commander to look at the heat-based blobs that punctuated a small area of the viewing screen.

"Drop altitude. Slowly. Confirm it is not wildlife.", the commander responded.

The pilot nodded as he tilted the control rod forward to slowly descend towards the highlighted copse of trees. The craft had been flying at near fifteen thousand feet in order to not attract the unwanted attention of the human settlement at the base of Mount Shasta.

The first portion of the descent was smooth which caused the black-eyed commander to stare intently at the infrared signal, trying to discern shape which was nearly impossible from their current altitude.

"Just a bit further.", he urged.

As they passed the five thousand foot mark the clouds began to encroach. They seemed to materialize from the ether and surround their craft. The clouds were thick and black, not unlike oily smog.

"What?!", the commander raged as the pilot seemed to be frantically trying to keep the craft on its descent.

"They were not on radar a moment ago!", the pilot said as the cabin filled with the eerie flash of the red warning lights.

"Straighten out!", the commander ordered as the pilot struggled with an unresponsive control rod.

"Nothing works properly!", the pilot pointed out.

"I want this-", the commander began but never finished. The craft had already shattered to many pieces upon the mountainside.

* * *

None of the girls heard the booming explosion nor saw the blooming flame of the wreckage. They simply continued to sleep through the night, unaware that Koyomiko had saved them from possible doom.

* * *

Chiyo held back Kaede as they and Sakaki kept their backs pressed against the capsule, trying to avoid the eyesight of the man within the room. It was to no avail though, for the man rounded the corner and literally came face to face with them which caused Chiyo to screech and bolt into Sakaki's protective arms.

"Ah, there you are.", the man said with a smile creasing his rather pale face.

Sakaki held the small girl close and Kaede simply looked at the man, her eyes glazed in a stupor. Sakaki stayed silent as the man stood before them.

"Now, girls. Come on out from behind there.", he said with a sugar-coated voice.

Sakaki stood up, still holding Chiyo close to her body and looked the man directly in his ice blue eyes. What she found odd was how bright and positive the man looked; much different from the other aliens they had met.

"Are you here to hurt us too?", Sakaki asked.

"Oh, no no!", the man laughed waving his hand dismissively. "I can't hurt girls as cute as you!"

A bit put off by this comment, Sakaki tilted her head in confusion.

"Then...what do you want?"

The man laughed heartily.

"I can't let you stay here."

"We can't go back out there!", Chiyo piped up.

"Ah!", the man said, raising a finger. "You were subjects."

Sakaki nodded. Kaede said "Eh?"

The man leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.

"What if I get you girls outta here? How does that sound?"

Sakaki regarded him oddly.

"How do we know you're not tricking us?"

The man held out his hand.

"My name is Taito Haapalainen."

Sakaki took his hand a shook it slightly.

"Sakaki.", she said.

"I'm Chiyo...and this is Kaede.", Chiyo said, calming down a bit.

"Pleased to meet you! Now, let's get going! No time to waste!", he laughed, making a sweeping hand motion.

Sakaki still found him odd, but silently prodded Chiyo and Kaede into motion. Besides, at least he was human.

Taito reached his hand toward the door handle and it flew open, allowing them to step out into the hallway once more. He looked both ways before turning to them.

"Just follow me. You have nothing to worry about."

* * *

The girls awoke to a rather brisk morning. Fog hung amongst the trees, leaving the group feeling a bit damp and cool. Kagura gazed across the mountain pass they would have to traverse that day in order to reach the town below by evening.

"We better get going, guys.", Kagura called back to the others who had just eaten the leftover berries for breakfast.

Osaka was the first to step up beside Kagura, frantically rubbing the 'alien crust thingys!' out of her eyes. Tomo and Yomi took up their places behind her and last to join them was Kaorin and Chihiro.

"Everyone ready?", Kagura asked.

"Yes, Yamigata-san!", Koyomiko said, pumping her fist in the air.

Kagura regarded the girl with a rather disgusted glance and began to walk. Tomo exchanged a confused glance with Yomi.

"Yamigata-san?", Tomo asked.

"Kagura's surname.", Yomi answered.

They looked down at the little girl who simply responded with an innocent smile. They had to hurry quickly to catch up with Kagura.

Kagura spoke very little as they walked other than to point out changes in direction. She seemed silent; aloof.

"It looks like something is bothering her.", Chihiro whispered to Kaorin.

"Yeah.", Kaorin droned in a half-dazed manner.

_'Could Chihiro really be that dense?'_, she thought.

Kaorin knew exactly what was bothering Kagura. In fact, she herself was rather put off by Koyomiko and her actions. What really made her worried was how Koyomiko was such a mystery to everyone yet it seemed there were no mysteries to the seemingly psychic little girl. It was almost as if she was threatening the group by knowing too much; even more threatening than the aliens on their tail.

_'With the wrong mindset Koyomiko could be...',_ Kaorin thought. She did not want to think of Tomo and Yomi's child as the doomsday device. As a matter of fact, she didn't want to think anything negative lest the girl know about it. Yet, she watched. The little girl hopped along beside her mothers, skipping and humming happily as if nothing bothered her in this world.

Koyomiko skipped alongside her mothers, humming and singing whatever words happened to pop into her head.

"Do do do! Following Yamigata-san with Mama and Kaa-san! Doo do do! 5.432 kilometres to go! Yay! Do do do doo! Nothing bothers me! Everything is gooood! Do do doooo!"

Kaorin shivered.

_'This is not right...'_

* * *

"You wished me to see something?", Dagon asked the alien man sitting before the viewing console. On the screen was a radar signal that was set to playback. On the greenish screen he watched a light blip course across the field and suddenly disappear in an instant.

"That was craft 3857F.", the alien man in the swivel chair spoke.

"So it just...disappeared?", Dagon asked.

"From the readings it seems like an atmospheric change in pressure occurred around that time. Since then we've had no contact."

"And this occurred where?", Dagon inquired.

"Sector U-13. East face."

Dagon thought for a moment before speaking.

"I want a detachment and a Class C as soon as possible. We now know where to start."

* * *

**Anyone who knows what nationality Taito's name comes from gets extra points! NO GOOGLE!! You lil' cheaters...**

**Anyhow, **

**peace,**

**-Jay**


	7. Telophase

**Well, I felt like writing another chapter of this but do not fret! Help Desk will return very soon with an all new episode! Don't miss it!**

* * *

Taito walked through the halls confidently, his head held high and a gigantic smile plastered across his face. Sakaki followed close behind him and she urged Chiyo and Kaede to do the same.

"Um...Taito-san?", Chiyo said, not being able to properly pronounce his surname.

"Hmm?", he said, turning his head but continuing to walk.

"Uhh...won't the black-eyed men see us?", Chiyo asked hesitantly.

Taito laughed.

"Don't you worry! We'll be just fine!"

"Okay...", Chiyo conceded. She had no better idea and if Sakaki felt safe...

After a minute or so of walking, Chiyo's question would truly have an answer. Rounding the corner ahead of them came one of the alien men.

He called out to Taito with a raised palm and something that sounded like, "Biksha!"

Taito returned the gesture and spoke the same word, but when he spoke it he gave a deep bow as well.

Sakaki grabbed Chiyo and Kaede and held them close as the alien man approached and engaged Taito in a conversation in an unknown language.

Sakaki felt a sobering feeling pass over her.

_'It's as if he doesn't even see us...'_, she thought.

Chiyo also watched the two men as well. She was more distraught than amazed.

_'Something is not right...'_

Moments later Taito bowed to the man again and the alien walked off, casting no glance at the girls.

"What happened there?", Sakaki asked after the alien walked out of sight.

"I told you that you have nothing to worry about!", Taito pointed out.

Sakaki nodded, feeling more confident about their new companion. He seemed honest and no matter through what odd circumstances he achieved his protection of them, it was all welcome.

Taito continued down the corridor with the girls in tow. Along the way they passed other aliens that greeted Taito with the same greeting they had heard earlier. And every single one of them seemed oblivious to the girls themselves.

All the while Taito smiled until they found themselves before a set of large metal double-doors.

"Almost there, girls. Just gotta take this elevator to the ground floor and voila! Freedom!", he spoke triumphantly as he pushed the button near the door.

As they waited Sakaki spoke in a voice near a whisper.

"Taito-san...why are you helping us?"

Taito smiled at the tall girl and answered.

"I know how it feels to be nothing but an experiment."

* * *

"Everyone be careful."

Kagura spoke for the first time in an hour. She was warning the group due to the fact that the path had become perilous. With a rock wall on one side and a twenty metre fall on the other, the group had no choice but to edge along a narrow outcropping. Kagura led the way with Osaka close behind, trying not to look down and clutching her friend's shirt tightly. Both Yomi and Tomo held Koyomiko's hands as they edged along. Taking up the rear came Kaorin and Chihiro who also held hands as they tried to ignore the vast cliff beside them.

"This is scary...", Osaka mused.

"Everyone, just be careful.", Kagura reminded them.

And so they pushed on, fighting the urge to look over the edge and feel their heart drop. As the end of the ledge neared the rock beneath their feet became less compact. Bits and pieces fell down the slope as Kagura gingerly placed one foot in front of the other. A few paces from the end of the ledge, the rock under her feet gave out.

In shock, Osaka released her hold on the athlete's shirt and thus Kagura fell. Kagura's mind swam, she had no time to formulate coherent thoughts.

Her only reaction was "Reach!"

She tried to reach and grasp the ledge she had fallen from but her face was pelted by falling debris thus proving it to be impossible. Moments later her back caromed off a rock, sending searing pain into her body. The impact threw her Head over heels. She saw the rocky ground approaching and began her final prayers.

_"Such a waste...",_ she thought.

Yet, she never struck the rocks. A metre before impact an unidentifiable force brought her to a halt. She hung there, upside down in midair.

"No...", Kagura whispered.

Cheers could be heard above her as that same odd force pulled her upward.To her it felt so strange, so unnatural. After a few brief moments traveling in the air she was dropped safely on the other side of the ledge where her friends soon greeted her.

"Are ya ok, Kagura?", Osaka asked, bending over.

Kagura stood and brushed herself off. She was fine save for a few scrapes and bruises.

"Yay! I saved Yamigata-san!", Koyomiko cheered.

"All right, Koyomiko-chan!", Tomo shouted and gave her daughter a high-five.

"She did save you Kagura. You should thank her.", Yomi prodded.

That statement was the final nail in the coffin. Everything that Kagura had pushed down deep into her being erupted in one fantastic outburst.

"There is no way in HELL I'm thanking that freak child of yours for saving my damn life!", she screamed.

Tomo and Yomi stood still for a moment, letting the information absorb. Koyomiko, on the other hand, broke into tears almost immediately.

"Yamigata-san hates me!!"

"You're damn right I hate you! You little freak of nature!"

"My god, Kagura! What the hell has gotten into you?", Yomi reprimanded, kneeling and pulling her child close to her.

"Yeah, Kagura! She just saved your life! Don't you dare talk about my kid that way!"

"If it means having to put up with your unnatural kid, I'd rather be dead! And if you think I'm leading you any further you can think again!", Kagura said as she stormed off into the trees on the side of the path.

Tomo and Yomi comforted their child as Kaorin and Chihiro looked on. Osaka seemed nervous. She stared at the group doting over Koyomiko before making a slight grunt and running into the forest in pursuit of Kagura.

"That bitch needs to learn a lesson!", Tomo said once Koyomiko had stopped crying.

"All she thinks about is herself.", Yomi sighed. "She'll come back when she's ready."

"What about Osaka?", Chihiro asked.

"She'll talk some sense into Kagura.", Tomo said.

"...Do you seriously think that?", Yomi asked, her face placid.

"...Maybe?"

Kaorin stayed silent and gazed offhand at Koyomiko. Something about the little girl bothered her. Not to the point of insults and rage, but in some ways she knew what Kagura must feel. Just looking at Koyomiko sent shivers down her spine.

* * *

"Kagura! Kagura!", Osaka called as she stumbled haphazardly through the undergrowth.

Now she was honestly concerned. She had had her suspicions about Koyomiko but after the incident moments ago she knew that the girl could pose a serious threat. Who knows what she would be like when she got older? Would her power become more out of control?

The questions stormed her mind and she knew the feeling well. Her mind was usually full of theory and hypotheses on a daily basis. At this moment though, most of her attention was spared on the whereabouts of Kagura.

"Kaaaaaguuura!", she called again, listening to the echo.

She stepped forward, a bit slowly due to being exhausted from running and yelling. It was then that she noticed a form behind a tree up ahead. Even from a few metres away she knew it was Kagura.

"Kagura!", she exclaimed as she ran up to the girl who was sitting curled against the trunk of the pine.

"So you did follow me.", Kagura mumbled.

Osaka nodded. "I'm with ya all the way."

Kagura cracked a halfhearted smile.

"I'm glad someone is."

"I know when stuff is dangerous.", Osaka said as she sat down beside Kagura.

Kagura sighed. She had thought to go back and apologize, but instead she followed her gut instinct and decided to do what she knew was right.

"What are we gonna do now?", Osaka asked.

Kagura steadied herself for what she was about to say.

"As strange as it sounds...We need to help Dagon find Koyomiko."

* * *

Dagon trudged down the mountain with his accompaniment of six armed soldiers and the rare and exclusive Class C Vorpal Lysis Demodulator. This dangerous device took the form of an extremely compact tube positioned at the knuckles of a specially made glove. When fired, from close range due to the range of the projectile, the Demodulator would attach itself to the flesh of the target and use high powered radiation to dissolve the nucleic acids within every cell in the host body. Therefore, the target would fall dead in moments and the genetic code would be completely destroyed. With only one charge in the tube, Dagon could not afford to miss.

He knew this as he led the group down the mountain. They had passed through sector U-13 twenty minutes previous and had indeed witnessed the remains of a fire and leaves cleared away, signifying a presence there recently.

"They could not have gotten very far.", one of the alien soldiers pointed out.

"Do not underestimate the abilities of that child. For all that we know the group may not even be on this mountain.", Dagon said.

"She is just a child.", the soldier spat.

"Not just any child, you fool! She is the catalyst for Armageddon!", Dagon explained.

The man fell silent for a moment before speaking.

"She is still a human."

"And that is why use of a Class C is required.", Dagon said. "Before her powers grow out of control."

"How do we know for sure she is the Beast?", the man asked.

"She has already killed! She protects those who follow her. She was born of virgins. It is only a matter of time before her powers mature and are used for sinister purposes. What more proof do you need?", Dagon said.

The soldier regarded Dagon with a malicious eye.

"Why do you care to save humanity?"

"If they are destroyed, we are destroyed. Thus by this simple act we are victorious."

* * *

The doors slid closed and the elevator began to descend. The group stood still for a bit, then Sakaki broke the silence with a question.

"Taito-san, back in that room...Who were the girls that escaped? What were you talking about?"

"Ah, they are just some Japanese girls who gave birth to a rather special child and then managed to escape with her."

"Do you know their names?", Chiyo piped in.

Taito thought for a moment before answering.

"Tomo and Yami...or something like that."

Taken aback, Sakaki spurted out a confusing string of words.

"Those are our friends they must have gotten caught with us Oh...they...we need to find them Taito-san!"

Taito's attention was immediately caught.

"If I knew where they were I would bring you to them. But don't you worry, I'll get you out of here so you can go look for your friends."

"Why are you so nice to us, Taito-san?", Chiyo asked.

"Like I said, I know what it feels like to be an experiment. I know how you feel and how Kaede feels.", he smiled.

"Thank you, Taito-san.", Sakaki smiled.

"It is my pleasure.", he said as the elevator doors slid open to reveal a vast room that resembled an airplane hanger.

"Is this...the exit?", Sakaki asked, noticing the light at the end of the tunnel beyond the vast doors.

"Wow...", Chiyo said as she joined Sakaki who was standing in the center of the immense room.

"Gah!", said Kaede.

The two girls turned in time to see Taito clutching Kaede in a headlock, his face unchanged from his normal happy grin.

"What are you doing!?", Sakaki demanded.

"I said I would let you humans go.", Taito said. "Miss Kaede here stays with me."

"What!?", Chiyo exclaimed.

"I still hold my obligations to the Dagon. Now, please go before I change my mind."

"What do you mean by 'obligations'?", Sakaki said.

"Just go! Just leave before I am forced to do something I won't like to do.", Taito demanded.

Sakaki stood still, she knew at this moment she must be brave. She looked at Chiyo as well, knowing that as mothers they had a responsibility.

"We are not leaving without Kaede."

* * *

"I guess we should wait for Kagura to come back before we move.", Kaorin suggested.

"Hell no! We should just go to the town without her! It's not like she doesn't know where we're headed.", Tomo said.

"For once I have to agree.", Yomi said. "Kagura was acting very immature and if we head to town without her she may learn her lesson."

"MmmHmm!", Chihiro nodded in agreement.

"What about Osaka? She didn't even do anything! We should wait for her at least!", Kaorin spouted.

"No!", Koyomiko said, her arms crossed. "Osaka Baa-chan is a meanie who wants to hurt me with Yamigata-san! Let's go without them! Teach them a lesson!"

"That's the spirit!", Tomo gave her daughter a high-five as the group began their trek once more.

Kaorin sagged behind a bit, absorbed in her thoughts of discontent.

_'It's like Koyomiko cast a spell on them.'_, she thought.

"Kaorin, are you ok?", Chihiro said, intruding into her personal thoughts.

"I'm fine.", Kaorin stated offhand.

Chihiro tilted her head. She knew her girlfriend was lying.

"Seriously, what's the matter?"

Kaorin's face went blank.

"Something about Koyomiko-chan...just doesn't feel right."

"Huh?", Chihiro asked.

"Not only does she have weird powers but doesn't it seem like Tomo and Yomi are controlled by her?", Kaorin mused.

"What!? Don't say things like that! Koyomiko-chan saved Kagura's life!", Chihiro reprimanded.

"I know but doesn't it seem a bit dangerous that-",Kaorin was cut off.

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!", Chihiro said, walking away from her girlfriend to rejoin the group.

Kaorin sighed. She knew how Kagura must have felt. Yet, she also felt that she knew something the others simply could not see.

* * *

**Oh no! What exactly IS Koyomiko!? Stay tuned!**


	8. Cytokenesis

**New Helix! Yay! Thanks Osakalover16 for regaining my interest in this.**

* * *

"How much further?", Osaka groaned.

"Just until we make it back to the path we were walking down earlier. I have a feeling Dagon may have been following us.", Kagura answered as they crunched through the fallen leaves, trying to find their way.

"Ain't Dagon gonna hurt us?", Osaka questioned.

"Not if he knows what's good for him.", Kagura answered.

"What'cha mean?", Osaka asked.

"Think about it; Dagon wants the same thing we do. Who would have thought that the freak that captured us would have been the right one in the end?"

"Wasn't it his fault this happened in tha first place?", Osaka asked.

"Not really.", Kagura said, shaking her head. "If it wasn't Tomo and Yomi then they wouldn't have created Koyomiko."

"Hm..", Osaka was deep in thought. Her instincts told her not to blame her friends. But...they were supporting a rather dangerous child. It was all so confusing to her. All she wanted was everything back to normal. Hopefully Dagon could provide her with that.

Kagura was more sure of her feelings. Koyomiko equals evil. It was a rather grim mantra but it was what she felt was right.

"I think I see the path we took.", Kagura said, motioning Osaka towards a break in the trees.

Indeed, upon exiting into the clearing they noted a bent tree that resembled a crooked old man. This was the path they had taken earlier.

"Do we...uhh..wait?", Osaka asked.

"No, they must have found our path by now. We go and meet them.", Kagura decided.

"Back tha way we came?"

"You got it."

And thus they began their walk in silence. Each had their own thoughts to deal with. But in the end, it was all worth it to them. It was not betrayal by any means. They were saving a friendship. Saving lives even.

'Not much longer and everything will be solved.', Kagura thought.

This brought a smile to her lips.

-------

The more Dagon thought about the situation, the worse it became. Yet, his race was a calm race. His outward expression masked a roiling interior.

The Beast.

Ho Mega Therion.

Apocalypse.

One day it had to come. But it was too soon. He had never expected to see the day. Surely, his race lived nearly three hundred years on average, but witnessing the Apocalypse never crossed his mind. He cursed himself, he had been warned by his father. He had been told the experiment was dangerous. Playing God...but it felt so natural.

He just wished that he could remove himself from involvement.

"There are people ahead.", one of the soldiers said.

The six soldiers raised their rifles and allowed the red laser reticules to hover on the heads of the two girls that came into view.

Osaka immediately dropped into a fetal position but Kagura remained standing and regarded the men with a cool stare.

"Ah, nice to see you again.", Dagon said.

"Nice to see you too.", Kagura responded.

Dagon was not fooled. The girls had set a trap for him, but he would not be the idiot here. He whispered a few words in his native tongue telling the soldiers to keep their aim as he walked down the slight incline to meet the two girls.

"There is a reason, is there not?", Dagon was not one to mince words.

"Why else would we be here?", Kagura grinned.

By this time Osaka had stood back up. She was shaking but felt she needed to insert some of her own wisdom.

"Koyomiko is an alien!"

Dagon chuckled.

"Well, umm..not really but...she has some really strange powers.", Kagura clarified.

"I'm aware that she can kill.", Dagon said.

"Kill!?", Kagura and Osaka said almost simultaneously.

"Kill like no beast that has ever been known. A peerless hunter.", Dagon said.

This slammed Kagura and Osaka like a two ton bucket of raw fish. They had seen Koyomiko hover Kagura. They had seen her read minds. They knew that one day she may be dangerous if influenced in the wrong way. But they had not even thought she could be a natural born killer.

"Tell me...Kagura...Ayumu, have you ever heard of Ho Mega Therion and the Apocalypse?"

"The Apocalypse...", Kagura entered deep thought. She had heard the term before...she just wasn't quite sure what it meant.

"You mean tha end of tha world!?", Osaka bursted out.

Leave it to Osaka to know.

"WHAT!?", Kagura screamed.

"Ya know, when the world ends. Tha Great Beast comes and we all die!", Osaka expounded.

"WHAT!?", Kagura screamed again. "DID YOU KNOW THIS ALL ALONG!?", she accused Dagon.

"I have been trying to destroy her for a reason, Kagura-san.", Dagon said.

"But how can...", Kagura was on the edge of hyperventilation. Everything had struck her so quickly and without mercy.

"We wanna help ya get her, Dagon.", Osaka said, raising her hand.

Dagon regarded the girls for a moment and then smiled. Everything was far too perfect. Even if it was a trap, he considered, they were but mere humans. All in one place, he could destroy them all if need be.

"Are you willing to lead us to our target?", he asked.

Kagura nodded. "They haven't gone far."

He motioned for the soldiers to move closer. Osaka was relieved that the laser reticules were no longer on her forehead.

"Time is of the essence.", Dagon said.

Kagura understood and gulped. She began to lead them. She didn't ask how he would destroy Koyomiko because her mind was too befuddled to even consider it.

All their trust was now in his hands.

-----

They could now see the town clearly. The group stopped at regarded the small hamlet for a moment. It was not far off, possibly only one more kilometre.

"Wow, we must be out in the boonies. That place is tiny.", Tomo pointed out.

Yomi became nervous at the sight of the strange town. It didn't seem to her like any Japanese town she had ever seen. The houses were larger and very individual, the tallest building looked to be the steeple of a church. She was put off but she kept quiet about it.

Instead she said to Tomo, "Where else would we go? I don't see another town for miles!"

"I wasn't complaining.", Tomo explained. "I just think it looks like crap."

Koyomiko tugged on Yomi's sleeve.

"Let's go, Kaa-san."

Yomi yanked Tomo along with her as the family joined up with Kaorin and Chihiro who had moved slightly ahead.

"What I'm wondering is...", Kaorin mused as they walked. "What do we say to them when we get there? We can't just tell anyone we got captured by aliens!"

"Just say we're hobos.", Tomo suggested.

"I'm not sure if that would work...", Yomi said dryly.

"Don't worry! I'll take care of everything!", Koyomiko said with a smile.

"What?", Yomi asked.

"I'll talk to people."

"Hey, good idea! People gotta listen to a cute little girl!", Tomo said with a chuckle.

"What will you say to them?", Chihiro asked.

"We were hiking and we got lost!", Koyomiko said.

"You're a genius!", Tomo spouted.

Yomi nodded. Koyomiko had to have gotten her brains from Yomi.

Kaorin was immediately put ill at ease. Gods know what Koyomiko would do. Kaorin shivered, thinking that Koyomiko was planning to use her mind powers on the people of the innocent little town.

"Hey! Look at that!", Tomo was screaming from up ahead.

She was pointing through the edge of the forest at a weather-worn dirt path that lead directly into the heart of the town.

"Wow, we made it.", Yomi noted.

"Yay!", Koyomiko said. "We're close!"

The direct sunlight felt good on their skin as they stepped onto the road. Everything seemed to be looking up! Going from the terror of the alien stronghold to a beautiful pathway that lead to solace was the greatest thing they had ever experienced.

Kaorin was the only one without a smile.

--------

"They're 0.3 kilometres from the town. What do we do now?", one of the soldiers asked as he spied the girls through his high powered rifle scope.

"Continue as planned.", Dagon said.

"Won't the people in that town be all freaked out though?", Kagura asked.

"If anything, they should be elated we are here to save them.", Dagon said. "It matters not if they understand why."

"So, we catch them now?", one soldier asked.

"Yes, we end this now. It should only take a moment.", Dagon grinned, flexing the hand wearing the Class C Vorpal Lysis Demodulator.

----

"What do you want with her?", Sakaki asked through gritted teeth.

Taito smiled as he held Kaede, who barely struggled.

"I was the first. The only male experiment. The product of my fathers. Kaede and me...we would make beautiful children.", he said.

"What!?", Chiyo exclaimed.

"What good does that do? What are you planning?", Sakaki asked.

"The only way for me to escape this damned place! Our children would be eight-helixed beasts! Far more powerful than the Dagon. For once, all the former experiments would be freed! Freed by my hands! We would have free reign to do as we pleased!", Taito laughed.

"What good is that, Taito-san!? Would you give up your gracious nature all for your greed?", Chiyo spouted.

"I'd give up anything to save my race. And for being so nice as to let me take your daughter as my own...I will spare you two, and your friends. You can live with us in the new world!", Taito said.

"Why take revenge on humans? What have we ever done to you?", Sakaki said, her voice carrying unmasked anger at the insanity of this man.

"Existed! Us Tetra-heloids would not be cursed to be the Dagon's sex toys if you did not exist! I will make sure that nothing as horrible as us is ever created again!"

So noble...yet so twisted.

"Think about it, Taito-san! You look no different from us! You could easily be accepted into human society. Please, forget your grudge and come with us! Escape with us.", Chiyo urged, tears growing in her eyes. She had to convince this man. Everything...everything was on the shoulders of her and Sakaki. It made no sense.

_'Why is fate so cruel sometimes?'_, she thought.

"Blend in to society, eh? Hah! I've watched humans! They can't even accept their own kind much less something different! Humans are a cruel species, they discriminate against anyone and everyone they can!", he retorted.

"You can't say that.", Sakaki said calmly.

"I can and I am.", he replied.

"We accept you Taito-san. We are not here to harm you or any of your brethren. We know Kaede is one of your kind, but we love her.", Sakaki said.

"She is your daughter!", he screamed.

"Even so!", Chiyo said. "Even if she wasn't, she would not find hate in anyone I have ever met. Yes, there are racists and those who discriminate, but they are rare in a world that is truly willing to accept people for who they are, and not base judgment on what they are."

Taito paused for a moment. Is this girl serious?

"Are you blind!?", he yelled. "I've seen the wars and the killings! Even if your skin is a different colour humans kill over it! There is very little choice in your world! You are how you are born!"

"Humans learn from their mistakes.", Sakaki explained. "In the past, the world was far less tolerant. Everyone makes mistakes and without those mistakes humans would not have learned what they have."

"Yes! A few hundred years ago many places in the world discriminated against and enslaved Africans because of the colour of their skin. But now, that type of racism is almost non-existent!", Chiyo said.

Taito regarded them with dark eyes; placing his normal bright blue irises under heavy shadow.

"And you think they would accept a freak like me who doesn't even share the same DNA? Not even the same basic blocks of life!", he said.

"Humans are more tolerant than you think.", Sakaki said.

"Yes.", Chiyo acknowledged.

Then she did something that surprised even her. Chiyo walked slowly up to Taito, who tightened his grip around Kaede's neck. She looked up at the man with pleading eyes. She could see the confusion that was wrought within him.

She felt so hurt by the man.

She knew he was struggling.

Sadness overtook her.

She hugged Taito around his waist. She held on tightly and poured all the love she had into that one action.

His eyes went wide. He had never been hugged before. He felt joyous to know what love is like. But to him, the emotion had no name.

Then came Sakaki, who did the same. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him with the love she would hug a family member.

A human family member.

"We love you, Taito-san."

"You are no different from us. You are...you.", Sakaki whispered.

------

"Wow! This feels great!", Tomo exclaimed as she skipped gleefully along the path. She felt free, less trapped.

"I wonder if they have good food there...", Yomi mumbled as she felt her stomach growl.

"Hey, Koyomiko do you know what-", Tomo began.

"NO!!!", Koyomiko cried and whipped around in a single swift motion.

With her enhanced senses, she felt the presences behind her. She heard the click and the release.

Pouring all her mind energy into a protective barrier she managed to deflect the small projectile that was headed straight for her.

It gouged into her arm before passing into the tall grass beside the road.

She let out a loud, pained scream.

Dagon and his followers stood only three metres away. He still had his hand held up from when he had fired the Class C.

In her daze, Koyomiko saw those beside Dagon.

He recognized Osaka and Kagura.

Rage filled within her. She could feel something boiling. Something ravenous and deadly. Her only thought was of elimination.

But she felt weak.

She felt the end was near.

But this newfound rage within her gave her strength to fight death.

The Apocalypse has begun.

The Beast has awoken.

-----


	9. Promoter Region

**And here we reach the climax!**

**(Quotes from the Qu'ran and Bible)**

**

* * *

**

_When the Word is justly carried out against them, We will produce a Beast from the earth which will speak to them. Truly mankind had no certainty about Our Signs. (Surat an-Naml: 82)_

_What are they awaiting but for the Hour to come upon them suddenly? Its Signs have already come. What good will their Reminder be to them when it does arrive? (Surah Muhammad: 18)_

_We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them, except with truth. The Hour is certainly coming. (Surat al-Hijr: 85)_

_And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.  
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.  
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.  
And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:1-4)_

The time of reckoning had come. As had been prophesied The Great Beast had awoken within the form of little Koyomiko Takino-Mizuhara. A punishment for the Dagon playing God? Possibly. A punishment sent on Tomo and Yomi themselves for indiscretions unknown? Maybe.

Shocked to speechlessness, Tomo was still audacious enough to approach her daughter and touch her shoulder. The response was pure rage.

Koyomiko whirled around, sending her mother flailing into the dirt. No one dare touch Tomo as if she were now accursed.

"Just stay there.", Koyomiko said. "You will be saved."

Dagon cursed himself repeatedly. The Class C Vorpal Lysis Demodulator had not made full contact. Thus the girl seemed nearly unharmed. He had tried and failed, but this was not a failure to accept and forget.

The signs began at that moment as Koyomiko returned her gaze upon her attackers.

The sky went dark. Not dark as occluded by clouds but as if night had fallen suddenly. So dark it was that the moon appeared brighter than ever. That sight was short as the moon took on a blood-red cast.

_'What have I done?'_, Kagura thought. In her eyes, she had doomed the world. She had doomed all life due to her suspicions. Could she blame Dagon? It was her fault. She led them to Koyomiko.

Osaka babbled senselessly. Her mind was befuddled by too much thought input. Nothing was straight, nothing was right.

"Now,", Koyomiko said. "All you guys without the Mark gotta die, ok?."

_'Mark?'_, Dagon thought back to his readings on the Apocalypse.

_And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:  
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13: 15-17)_

The Mark of the Beast. Commonly thought to be the number 666.

Dagon's eyes flashed with revelation. It all fell into place at that moment. All he thought to be correct had been a twisted experiment to, in time, bring about The End.

The Mark of the Beast was the modified DNA in their creations. Cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine, xanthine, and uracil. Six nucleotides triple base bonding with one another. He had always thought that a bit odd that, even though there were four helixes in the DNA of their creations, only three of the helixes were connected to other nucleotides. The fourth helix was attached to the phosphate backbone of the other three. Six triple bases bonded together. Six triple...Six triple...

The fourth had to have a purpose.

"The fourth is me.", said Koyomiko, who had obviously read his thoughts.

"Speak clearly, Beast.", Dagon insisted.

Koyomiko grinned and began to approach the group. The soldiers raised their rifles to fire. Laserbolts rained upon the girl. Tomo and Yomi screamed and tried to run towards their daughter, protective up to the end, but Kaorin and Chihiro had to hold them back.

The bolts hit Koyomiko but were seemingly absorbed by her skin. No mark was upon it when the soldiers ran out of ammunition. She just flashed a sweet smile and approached closer.

"The fourth helix is what makes me who I am.", she explained.

Dagon took a step back.

"The fourth helix encodes The Beast?"

Koyomiko nodded with an adorable smile on her face. It was hard to believe this girl would end the world.

Dagon understood though. The fourth helix consisted only of xanthine and uracil bases, two mutated nucleotides. They just had to be in the proper order. What caused the mutations Dagon had always known, but the connection was not there to make.

He hatched his plan. He knew the way but he could not, would not, think it lest the girl read his thoughts once more. Dagon had to stall.

"Who is saved, Beast?", he asked.

"Those who love me.", she smiled. "Like Mama and Kaa-san."

"KOYOMIKO!!!", Yomi cried, struggling against Chihiro's arms.

"What are you going to do against her?", Chihiro hissed. "It's too late now...". Sadness overcame the girl as all hope in the situation was lost.

"It's never too late!", Tomo yelled, kicking at Kaorin who was trying to calm her.

Tomo broke from her grip and then, using her adrenaline-infused strength, pulled Yomi from Chihiro's arms. Together, they ran towards the girl.

"Koyomiko! Dagon! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!", Yomi screamed.

The little girl turned and smiled happily at her mothers.

"It's not his fault, Kaa-san. I was born like this. The world is evil and it has to be destroyed."

"It's not as bad as you think!", Tomo said, shaking her daughter by the shoulders.

"Yes, it is! With all the silly humans gone it'll be a better place!", Koyomiko said.

Before the mothers could argue again, Dagon interrupted.

"What about us?", he said.

Koyomiko regarded him with innocent eyes.

"You mean the Dagon?"

Dagon nodded. This was the chance he needed.

"You gotta die too!", she smiled.

"Would you destroy the Beacon? The device that gave you the opportunity for life?", he asked.

His skin tingled as he awaited the answer. He hoped it was what he was looking for.

Koyomiko looked into his eyes, she delved into the crevices of his brain and found only truth in what he had said.

"No more Beacon."

Dagon's face registered absolute hopelessness. A feeling that there was now no way to avert the end of the world.

----------

Taito tore from their embraces and stumbled backwards. He had released his grip on Kaede but he no longer thought that important. He regarded Sakaki and Chiyo with eyes bordering on insanity.

"What...are you doing?"

"We just want you to see that not all the world is bad, Taito-san.", Chiyo said.

Such nameless, baseless emotions flowed through the man. Nothing in his twenty-three year life would have prepared him to accept such. Unloved he was, but how would he have known? Born of two fathers whom he never knew, he lived a secluded life as the last remaining male experiment. Used as nothing more than a curiosity, he was left to watch over the progenies of the Dagon. He never thought it tiresome though, he never fell into depression. He simply never knew. He was totally unaware.

"What can you show me?", he asked.

Sakaki approached him and clasped his hands in her own. She smiled and gazed at him reassuringly. She hoped he would understand.

"Come with us out into the world.", she said.

He paused for a moment.

"I can't.", he said.

"But why?", Chiyo asked, who was now holding Kaede by the hand.

"Humans have passions and desires that push them forward to do something with their lives. I don't have any of those desires! I would be lost; not knowing how to perform any of the tasks I would be asked. Think about it, I know nothing of how to act in society."

"Please just try, Taito-san!", Chiyo said. "Come with us and we can teach you. I promise to teach you!", Chiyo stomped her foot.

Taito smiled at the girl. She certainly was audacious. He had never met two humans so capable of making his emotions swirl. They were honest and beautiful people; trustworthy and he knew that they only meant to do right by him.

So he nodded.

"I'll come with you."

Sakaki and Chiyo cheered and hugged him earnestly.

"Thank you, Taito-san! We won't fail you!"

-------

"KOYOMIKO! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!", Yomi screamed, shaking the girl by the shoulders as tears streamed down her face.

"Ya dun gotta do this, Koyomiko!", Osaka said.

"You shut up!", Tomo growled.

Osaka relented under the pressure. She had never heard Tomo speak in such a manner.

"How about we start now, ok?", Koyomiko said.

"Wha-", Yomi began, but Koyomiko had already left her arms.

In a flash, the girl floated two metres above the heads of those assembled. She had left her makeshift clothing below and instead seemed sheathed by a burning, diaphanous light.

"Bye bye Beacon.", she waved playfully at the darkened sky.

Dagon gulped as the others jumped and pleaded for their lives. Osaka was on her knees praying to whatever god she knew, Kagura let tears loose to stream down her face. Kaorin and Chihiro hugged one another, sharing one last embrace. Tomo and Yomi pleaded with their daughter to end this madness.

Yet even the voices of her mothers could not dissuade her. She was The Beast.

In one fluid motion a lance of flame erupted from her palm. She reared back one arm and heaved it into the abyssal sky. It traveled through the air faster than anything seen upon this world, leaving jagged streaks of crimson fire throughout the sky; like vipers of the End Times.

It soon disappeared from view.

Then came another light, a slight blossom of light, nothing but a pinpoint upon the inky blackness of the sky.

Dagon knew what it was. And he smiled.

"Yay it's gone!", Koyomiko cheered.

Then Dagon began to clap. It was a slow, congratulatory clap.

"Thank you very much, Mega Therion."

"Huh?", Koyomiko said.

"You have destroyed yourself by your own hands."

"What do you-", Koyomiko's words stopped at that moment.

The others watched as the glow about the girl faded. This was followed by her immediate plummet from the sky. Tomo threw her own body under that of her daughters and broke her landing. The others gathered around her to check on the fallen girl.

"Koyomiko!!", Yomi called, pushing past the others.

Just then, Koyomiko began to convulse. Her muscles contracted and threw her body about with immense force. Enough force to knock Tomo on her back. The little girl cried out in pain as the sky once more became bright.

She panted and called for her mothers.

"Mama! Kaa-san!", she cried.

Tomo and Yomi approached their child to see blood streaming from her tightly shut eyes.

"KOYOMIKO!!", Yomi cried, grabbing hold of the girl.

"Mama...Kaa-san...", she wept. "I can't see!"

"Oh my god...", Kaorin gasped as she watched the two parents softly wipe away the girl's bloody tears.

Koyomiko became calmer as her mother's comforted her.She slowly opened her eyes, which were revealed to be terribly bloodshot.

"I can see...but everything is blurry."

Dagon stood by the solemn scene and smiled inwardly. For some reason he felt good that he had to sacrifice a possession of his own to end the danger. The destruction of the Beacon had destabilized the fourth helix and thus dissolved the danger of The Beast.

But this also meant the time of the Dagon was coming to a close as well. The fourth helix was also present in the cells of all their creations, as well as their progenies. Thus only the true Dagon would continue to live. All others would be destroyed. The only tetra-helical survivor would be Koyomiko, for her fourth helix was the one set properly.

Command would not be pleased. But, they didn't need to know because Dagon no longer cared to continue his conquests and experiments.

He had had enough.

It was time to play by the rules.

----

"Wow! It's really dark out.", Chiyo noted as they emerged from the tunnel.

"And look at that moon.", Sakaki pointed to the bloody-red moon hanging in the heavens.

"Eh?", Kaede said.

"Yeah, that's pretty weird.", Taito commented.

"I wonder what's going on.", Chiyo asked.

"I don't know, but I've never seen anything like that moon.", Sakaki said.

They both had seen harvest moons before, but those shone a cast of ochre, not this deep crimson.

"We should prolly get going before the Dagon decide to send out people looking for us.", Taito suggested.

They pushed their way through the trees; beginning their descent down the mountain.

"I hear there's a town near the base.", Taito said.

"Do you think our friends went there?", Chiyo asked excitedly.

"How am I supposed to know?", Taito shrugged. "It's a good place to start though."

Sakaki smiled. She was very glad Taito had decided to join them. She was very proud of Chiyo for talking with such sense to the man. That girl was certainly beyond her age; a true prodigy.

"We'll find you a good place to stay, Taito-san! I'm sure that if I introduced you to my parents, they'd let you stay with us!", Chiyo giggled.

Taito smiled. He hadn't smiled in such a way in all his years. In fact, he no longer felt controlled or distant. His feelings meant something; they simply didn't have to be pushed to the rear of his mind.

Chiyo pointed upward a moment later.

"Wow! It looks like it's getting light out again."

Indeed, the night-like sky seemed to have dissipated and was replaced by a bright, sunny, blue sky.

"I wonder what happened?", Sakaki mused.

"Solar eclipse, maybe?", Chiyo suggested.

"Maybe-", Taito's voice was cut off by a deep grunt.

Kaede also let out a high pitched squeal.

This caused the other two girls to turn and see the two rapidly convulsing on the forest floor. Each one cried out in pain as if their heartstrings were being pulled directly from them.

"AHH! GYAAHH!", Kaede cried. Sakaki tended to the girl as she squirmed.

Taito also writhed in pain and Chiyo knelt to asses the situation.

"What's wrong? What's wrong!?", Chiyo cried, looking for any signs of wounds on the man's body.

"Kaede! Kaede!?", Sakaki called to the girl.

Chiyo was the first to notice the next horrific portion. Her young eyes will never forget the scene.

Taito's flesh began to peel. Falling off in blood strips, it left his face and hands a mess of fatty tissue and blood which seeped.

"TAITO! TAITO!", Chiyo shook the man's shoulders feebly as she wept tears over his dissolving body.

Sakaki had seen the same scene with Kaede. Her body fell to pieces in bloody, horrible chunks. She wanted to hide her eyes but she could not close them, the tears were coming too strongly.

"Kaede...", she wept over the body which was now little more than a mass of jelly-like consistency.

Together, the two girls wept in each other's arms.

_'My daughter...' _

_'My friend...' _

_'Why must fate be so cruel sometimes...?' _

----------

**Yeah, sad chapter (! Don't fret though, this isn't the end!**


	10. Apoptosis

**One more chapter remains, and it shall explain the origins of little Koyomiko.**

**Also, look foward to a special Christmas edition of 'Help Desk'!**

* * *

Sometimes it's a wonder that mortals don't just give up. Take this moment and think back on the experiences the girls have been through thus far. From viewing a supposed celestial event, to being taken by the ancient creators of humanity. From being forced to reproduce without intercourse, to escaping terrified from capture. From betrayals, love connections and grief, to facing down The Great Beast of the Apocalypse.

It's a wonder they live at all.

What would you do under the same circumstances?

The universe may never know.

"Dagon...tell us what just happened here.", Tomo said with a trembling voice.

Yomi nodded but did not wish to speak because she was now cradling Koyomiko as she napped. It must have been a frightening experience for the girl and she did not want to wake her. She deserved her rest.

"...And you guys too.", Tomo added as an afterthought, indicating Kagura and Osaka.

Osaka glanced awkwardly at Kagura who swallowed a lump in her throat. Normally, Kagura would have jumped Tomo for putting her 'on the spot', but in this instance it was not the right time.

"I shall explain.", Dagon said. "In a moment."

He turned to the assembled soldiers who stood in various degrees of confusion. They had not expected to go through an experience as threatening as the one that had just occurred.

Dagon spoke to them in their native language and, roughly translated, would be,

"Return to the base. Find the two remaining girls, they should be in Room 47-C and do not inform command of anything that had transpired. In fact, do not respond or communicate with command at all. To them, we will play dead, understood?"

The men nodded in assent.

"Now go, and be quick about it!"

The six soldiers turned and ran back into the forest at speeds no human could match. They were soon lost from sight.

Dagon turned back to the girls, folded his legs and sat beside them.

"Now, let me explain what just happened."

Leaving out no details, Dagon expounded first the tale of his race. It was the same one he had told to Sakaki and Chiyo. He told them of how the Dagon had created humanity and now they were dying. He told them the only way for them to survive was through somatic cell reproduction technology and sexual intercourse with the children thus produced.

"You mean what you told us was a lie?", Tomo gasped.

"Of course it was, idiot." Yomi hissed.

"I am sorry that I had to tell an untruth. With all that has occurred I no longer feel correct to continue with the reproduction and experimentation.", Dagon said.

"How the hell can you feel that way after all that you've done!?", Tomo said, a little louder than intended...but it IS Tomo, after all.

"The Dagon are not free of emotion. No, we just see racial obligation as more important and worthwhile than personal feelings. But, I had to make a decision and I believe I made the correct one. It was never my intention to destroy all humanity...but...", Dagon looked a bit shaken by his confessions.

"Go on.", Tomo prodded, arms crossed.

"...I had developed an army of half-Dagon warriors to dominate Earth in the near future. Humanity would have been ruled by the children produced by Dagon and those tetra-heloids like Koyomiko."

"What!?", Kagura and Tomo shouted.

"What kind of comfort is that?", Yomi asked. "They still exist, don't they?"

Dagon shook his head.

"With the destruction of the Beacon all tetra-heloids were destroyed. The Beacon was what kept them whole. Without it their cells dissolve and leave nothing more than a jelly-like pile."

"Why did Koyomiko survive?", squeaked Kaorin.

"Her fourth helix was assembled in just the right order to maintain control. She only took minor damage...", Dagon explained.

"Hey, in fact, what IS Koyomiko anyhow? Why the hell did she freak like that? Is she a god or something?", Tomo regarded her sleeping child with a new sense of awe.

"Thus brings me to my next point.", Dagon said. "Koyomiko had a special structure to her fourth helix. She was, unbeknownst to be, the final product our ancestors had been looking for. I'm sure you've heard of the Apocalypse, correct?"

Yomi nodded. "The end of the world."

Dagon nodded in return.

"Koyomiko was to bring about that end. She was The Great Beast mentioned in the ancient writings about the end of the world."

"How...what...", Yomi gulped as she looked at her child. Even Kaorin and Chihiro covered their gasps with their hands.

"Is she ok now?", Tomo asked.

"She's technically a normal human being now. Granted, she may not be able to produce children.", Dagon said.

"Damn! No grandkids.", Tomo cursed.

There was quiet for a moment before Osaka began to sob. she fell to her knees and let the tears flow freely.

"Osaka?", Tomo questioned.

Dagon felt sorry for the girl. She had done the technical 'right thing' but at the expense of the trust of her friends. The same went for Kagura. If they had been of Dagon descent there would be no question but to choose the entirety over one's friends. But Osaka and Kagura were but humans. And humans were complex creatures.

"I'm soory...so soory.", Osaka wept.

Kagura also cast her eyes to the ground.

"Yeah...me too...", she had never felt so awful in her life.

This reaction put even Tomo at a loss for words. It's not like anyone could say they were wrong...

"It's alright...I understand.", Yomi said after a pause.

"Really?", Osaka sniffled.

This time Tomo nodded.

"I guess I can see how all this stuff could have been really freaky.", she said.

"So...you forgive us?", Kagura asked sheepishly.

Yomi nodded. "Yes, there's more important things to take care of."

"Yeah, like...where are we?", Tomo asked the golden question.

"Mount Shasta, California. In the United States of America.", Dagon said simply.

"What!?", Kaorin burst out.

"How the hell did we get here?", Tomo practically shouted.

Dagon silenced them with a lift of his finger.

"We have methods of transport far superior to anything humans have invented thus far."

"Can you take us home then?", Chihiro asked.

Dagon sighed.

"Soon, I'm sure you'll wish to wait for your other friends to return first."

"Other...", Yomi started.

"...Friends?", Tomo concluded.

"What does he mean?", Kaorin asked Chihiro, who shrugged.

"Sakaki and Chiyo-chan.", Osaka answered.

A resounding "Ohhhhh...", filled those assembled.

"Are they ok?", Kagura asked.

"They should be fine. The men I sent back should contact me when they are released. I'll have them sent here on a craft and from there we can return you all home.", Dagon said.

This struck the girls for the first time. This was all coming to a close. This entire wicked experience was about to end.

"...But...why?", Tomo asked.

"What do you mean?", asked Dagon in return.

"You capture all of us, force us to make kids and then it turns out our Koyomiko is some sort of Apocalyptic beast! Why the sudden change of heart?"

Dagon didn't have a full answer for that, so he said what he could.

"For nearly two hundred years I have been capturing humans for reproduction. My father and grandfather had done it for many years before me. And for what? The plan was to create an unstoppable army to dominate planets, beginning with this one. Let me tell you, we had been warned before. We were aware that one day the Apocalypse would come. Of course, out of ignorance it was not regarded. And here we are, the Dagon and humans under the same sky and facing the same circumstances of abject destruction. Us Dagon may have more technology than humans. Us Dagon may live longer than humans, but I have come to realize that does not make us superior. We are living beings just like you. We do not deserve to dominate. So, at least here on Earth, us Dagon will live out the remainder of our lives in peace."

A sudden wistful feeling came over Yomi. She fought it back, but could not control it. Strangely enough, after all they had been through, Dagon's explanation put a more human side to the former monster. She would miss him.

"Will we ever see you again, Dagon?", she asked. The others did not protest, so she assumed they thought the same as well.

Dagon smiled happily for the very first time he could remember.

"It would be dangerous for me to travel often, but if you would like, I could visit sparingly.", he said.

"That would be cool.", Tomo said.

A loud series of beeps came from a pod on Dagon's belt. He lifted the device to his mouth a pressed a recessed button on the side. From within it came a voice speaking the Dagon's native language.

"We've found the other prisoners.", it said.

"Found?", Dagon asked. "They were not in the room?"

"No, they were wandering the forest."

Dagon contemplated how they may have escaped, although it no longer mattered.

"Bring them to me...And call for a long-range transport craft. Type 34-A.", Dagon said.

"Yes.", the voice responded and bleeped out of existence.

He turned back to the girls.

"Your friends should be here soon."

---------

Sakaki and Chiyo had buried Taito and Kaede in total silence save for the occasional sob. They had said a generic prayer of thanks for being able to meet them and hope that their souls would find peace in the next life.

"It's so unfair...", Chiyo wept into Sakaki's chest.

Sakaki had no words to comfort the girl. Her own mind was nearly blank with grief. No words would affect the surge of emotion that encompassed her.

"We should...go.", Sakaki said after a moment.

Chiyo nodded weakly as Sakaki held her hand and they walked from the scene of death. They stayed silent as they walked, with only the connection between their hands sharing all the communication they needed.

A sharp voice broke into their brooding like a rock thrown through a rather fragile window.

Sakaki turned to see a collection of six, armed, alien men approaching from a side path. She picked up Chiyo in order to run but the voice rang out towards her again.

"Stop! We will not harm you!"

Sakaki quickly registered all directions but she was soon surrounded for the aliens seemed to move like lightning. They carried rifles but they seemed to be struggling not to raise them.

"What do you want!?", Sakaki screamed in an unbefitting angry tone. For some reason, she felt horribly angered by their presence.

"Please come with us. We were assigned to lead you to your friends.", one of the men said.

"Why should we believe you?", Chiyo squeaked.

"Please, we are telling the truth. Harming you at this point is foolish. We were assigned by one of us you know as Dagon to bring you to your friends so that you may be taken home.", the man responded.

Sakaki gritted her teeth.

"Tell me first...What happened to Taito? And Kaede!? WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!?", Sakaki was now in a rage she had no control of. She could not even understand why.

"Dagon will explain everything. Now, please, time is of the essence."

Sakaki looked down to Chiyo who regarded her with an innocent look and a nod of the head.

"Okay...We will come with you."

-------

"I apologize for the danger I have placed you in. I was unaware at the time.", Dagon apologized.

"I...don't really know if an apology is enough.", Yomi said.

Tomo nodded. "Yeah, you put us through some craaazy shit!"

"At least he's apologizing at all.", Kaorin pointed out.

"Very true.", Yomi realized. "Well, as you said, we were all in this together so...apology accepted."

"I guess there's no reason to be stupid about it so...", Tomo nodded in acceptance, thus followed by the entire congregation.

Just then Osaka, who had been facing Dagon spoke up happily.

"CHIYO-CHAN!! SAKAKI!!", she cheered.

This outburst caused the rest of them, save Koyomiko who was still sleeping like a log, to stand and smile with their own set of glee. Chiyo and Sakaki smiled back as well, tears creeping into their eyes once more but this time it was for positive reasons.

Chiyo couldn't contain herself and ran to Osaka for a lengthy embrace.

"Ah missed ya Chiyo-chan.", she droned happily.

Kaorin would have passed out at the opportunity to hug Sakaki but...she had a girlfriend now...but that little flicker still existed in the rear of her mind.

Everyone managed to greet their returning companions with displays of affection, even Tomo!

------------------

Tomo: Hey! Are you saying I can't be affectionate?

Jay: Like a horse to water...

Tomo: Oh, so now I'm a horse, eh? How would you like a knuckle sandwich?

Jay: Gladly.

Tomo: (confused) Uh...

------------------

"I'm so happy to see all of you!", Chiyo giggled.

"Yes, I'm glad to see everyone is ok.", Sakaki said.

Dagon approached the group and interrupted their reverie.

"Is everyone prepared to leave? The craft should arrive shortly."

There was a rash of nodding heads.

"Dagon...can I ask you something?", Sakaki said.

Dagon granted the girl her request.

"I want to know...what happened to Kaede and Taito-san? Please tell us! No more lying!", she choked through oncoming tears.

"Kaede...Taito...", Dagon was confused for a moment before he realized who she spoke of. He barely remembered that Taito Haapalainen existed, but now he recalled him as one of his first experiments. Taito was a fluke, the only male progeny. He also aged far slower than any normal progeny, which aged in normal human years. He also recalled that these two girls had produced a daughter, who must have been named Kaede.

Chiyo and Sakaki regarded him, desperately looking for his answer.

Dagon would have put the explanation simply, but he knew humans had a fragile heart.

"It was necessary, and I am sorry they had to pass away in such a manner.", he went on to explain what had occurred, how the Apocalypse had narrowly been avoided and the nuances behind why Taito and Kaede, being of tetra-helical descent, had died.

"So...Koyomiko is you and Tomo-san's daughter?", Chiyo asked Yomi who nodded in response.

Chiyo smiled. Inwardly she had a rare cruel thought; she was happy that there was finally going to be someone smaller than herself in their little group!

"It's...so much to take in.", Sakaki noted.

"You said it, sister.", Tomo quipped.

"It'll be nice to get home and relax though.", Osaka said.

"Ah, it appears you wish has been granted.", Dagon said, pointing upwards.

The girls had not even noticed it. A large, triangular craft that shined a glossy silver hovered overhead. It made no noise whatsoever and seemed to neither produce exhaust nor any sort of propulsion. Each watched with their jaw hanging Kimura-style as it descended swiftly to the ground.

"Holy...", Tomo began.

"...shit.", Chiyo finished.

And thus she was rewarded with bizarre stares. But, needless to say, the one most excited was Osaka.

"Finally...Ah finally get to ride on an alien spaceship!"

"Is everyone prepared?", Dagon asked, standing before the loading ramp that had descended from the side of the craft.

Everyone nodded. Chiyo and Sakaki nodded a bit later, realizing that they had made their peace with Taito and Kaede.

The group then boarded the alien craft but were sadly disappointed by the interior. Much of it simply looked like the cabin of a normal, human airliner.

"What the fuck!?", Tomo cursed. "Where's the ray guns? The warp engines? The wicked implements of destruction!?"

Dagon smiled.

"This is a transport craft, not used for warfare."

"This ain't alien at all!", Osaka whined while sitting in the plush chair. Kagura simply patted the poor girl on the shoulder.

Dagon sat in a chair near the pilot's cabinet and relaxed after the ramp was retracted and the door closed.

"You're coming with us, Dagon?", Kaorin asked.

"I will escort you all, but I cannot stay. There is still much work to be done.", he responded.

The cabin was quiet for a time...until Tomo spoke.

"When the hell are we gonna get going here? Geez...", she complained impatiently.

Dagon laughed at the girl.

"The hell you laughing at, bucko?", she said.

" We are in the air.In fact, we should be over the American state of Hawaii at this time.", he responded.

Osaka turned her head expectantly.

"Ohhh...there ain't no windows."

Without a word, Dagon pressed a small button near the pilot's cabin. From seemingly nowhere transparent windows flashed into existence in the walls of each row of seats.

"Wow...how ya do that?", Osaka asked as she watched the beautiful azure sea pass far below.

"Maybe someday humans will develop the same technology.", Dagon said.

"Ah hope so...", Osaka droned.

"Holy crap! I can see my house from here!", Tomo screamed.

"No, you can't! Geez Tomo, we must be like 40,000 kilometres in the air!", Yomi reprimanded, motioning to the land that could be seen amongst the water far below.

"Actually, we are 140,560 kilometres in the air.", Dagon corrected.

Chiyo stared at him with disbelieving eyes.

"How...is that possible?"

"Technology. We have many space-faring craft as well.", Dagon said.

"I would love to learn about them sometime...", Chiyo said.

"I'll teach you someday.", Dagon said.

"Hey, is that Japan?", Kaorin asked, pointing to the land below which resembled the main island of Honshu.

"Indeed it is.", Dagon stated.

"Wow...and we've only been flying for like...fifteen minutes or something.", Chihiro noted.

Dagon nodded.

"I'm going to have to close the windows for the end of the flight.", he said and pushed the same button which caused the windows to disappear.

"Where are we landing? Won't people see us?", Yomi asked.

"Do not worry.", Dagon said with a shake of his head. "This craft is equipped with the pinnacle of Dagon stealth technology. In fact, you will be dropped at your respective houses without even having to leave your seats."

Tomo raised her hand.

"Can I go with Yomi?"

"Of course.", Dagon responded. He need not ask the others so he simply stated, "I will make sure you are dropped in pairs."

The response was a collective smile.

"So,...this is tha end.", Osaka said wistfully.

Dagon coughed and prepared his speech mentally.

"I am very gracious for meeting all of you. Never have a met a group of any race that has affected me in such a manner as you have. Please, I ask of you, tell only those whom you must of the Dagon's existence. Knowingly, not many would believe you regardless but for the meantime I wish the Dagon to live in peace. And one last request I have, please live in respect and love for one another for you are amazing people."

With this he bowed.

"Farewell."

----------

"Holy...freakin'..shit..", Tomo said, her eyes wide as she and Yomi stood before the house of the latter.

"I know what you mean.", Yomi said.

Just then Tomo got that wildcat glint in her eye and grinned widely.

"So...Yomi...what are we going to tell our parents?", she said, indicating the still-sleeping Koyomiko.

"Oh...shit.", Yomi gulped.

---------

Kaorin and Chihiro stood outside of the house of the former.

"So...what do we do now?", Chihiro asked, her mind a blank slate erased by the influx of what had occurred to them over the past few days.

Kaorin turned to her girlfriend.

"I want to apologize for being so suspicious of Koyomiko. I know how it upset you."

Chihiro smiled.

"But...you were right."

"I still feel bad about it though. So, please forgive me."

"You don't need to beg for forgiveness."

Kaorin then smirked as one certain idea came into her head.

"I know how to make it up to you."

"How?", Chihiro asked, anxiously.

"My parents aren't home..."

------------

"So...what now?", Kagura asked.

Osaka stood silent for a moment. And her belly growled.

"Wanna get sumthin' to eat?", she asked.

Kagura smiled.

"That would be great."

-----------

"Sakaki-san?", Chiyo asked as they walked up the pathway to Chiyo's homestead.

"Hmm?", the tall girl said.

"The past few days...they feel like a dream to me. Are they like that for you, Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki kept walking as she thought. Indeed, it all felt so surreal and indistinct. She was aware that it had happened; she only need look at her cut finger for proof. But...her newfound connection to Chiyo was not muddled, it was complete and she knew it was proper.

"No.", she responded.

"Hmm...wonder why.", Chiyo mused.

Sakaki stopped and turned to her friend.

"We may have gone through a lot, but what we take from it is love.", she then proceeded to hug the smaller girl, who blushed heavily.

"I love you Chiyo-chan."

Chiyo smiled back. Sakaki had always been like a sister to her, but now it felt more intense. No, not romantic love but a sort of love shared between those who would never leave your side.

"I love you too, Sakaki-san."

--------

Dagon sat in one of the chairs the girls had occupied moments before. He refused to sit in the captain's cabinet and instead sat with his note-slate and stylus. The slate was encoded with all the genetic codes of those captured over the years. The slate also ran a program that allowed for possible matches to be made, this is how pairs are chosen.

He scrolled through the names until he came to the ones for the girls. He played with the combinations; not many fit. Under many circumstances the child would be instantly aborted if the match was not strong enough. One did fit though.

He clicked the names of Kaorin and Kagura with his stylus. He let the program run until it came up with one of the many allelic combinations that pairing would have produced. It read:

'Healthy child, unnaturally physical, commanding, compassionate, possible mutation in gene 17'

He smiled at the result. It was always an experience to think of what had never actually occurred.

"I wonder what they would have named her...", he mused.

---------


	11. G0: a Prologue and Epilogue

**Here we are! The ending has arrived!**

* * *

The end of this chapter in The Cosmic Codex nears. Let us flip the final pages and learn what we do not know. The burning question that lingers is 'Where did Koyomiko come from?'. Indeed, The Great Eye of the Universe will not leave such important queries unsettled. To understand the answer to the question we must return to a previous chapter in The Cosmic Codex, for The Great Tome does not repeat itself. Let us return to a time seven years earlier than this time frame. Let us return to when Tomo Takino and Koyomi Mizuhara were but girls of eleven...

"Geez, Yomi! You act like it's the end of the world!", Tomo whined as she tried to poke her head around the shoulders of her rapidly evading friend to catch a peek at their math homework.

"No, Tomo! You can't just keep using my homework to copy! You'll never learn anything on your own!", Yomi explained as she hid the worksheet under a stack of books.

Instead of jumping to fight like Yomi was expecting, Tomo simply turned her back and huffed.

"Hmph! You're such a butt, Yomi! Maybe I WILL do the homework myself, you know, cuz I'm totally better than you when I try!"

Yomi giggled at this suggestion. In all her years she had known her, Tomo had rarely ever applied herself to schoolwork. It was a needless, but expected, conundrum because the moment Tomo left school she would apply herself fully to all other tasks such a video games or her favourite pastime of bothering Yomi at ungodly hours of the night.

"What are you laughing at, four-eyes? You're just afraid to be embarassed by my awesome grade I'll get on the paper!", Tomo boasted.

"Maybe if you had my brain.", Yomi retorted.

Tomo wrung her lips into a sneer and ground her teeth together.

"I'll take energy over brains any day of the week!"

"Sure, if that's even good for anything.", Yomi said, shuffling her papers into her binder. She was always one to keep her schoolwork nice and orderly, lest she lose something.

"It's good for a lot of stuff...like running around and jumping and laughig and having fun. You know, stuff you don't do!", Tomo retorted as she bounced her bottom on Yomi's bed.

"I like to have fun, Tomo! You know that. Just that I have enough control that when I have to do work, I get it done first.", Yomi said.

Tomo shook her head as she bounced.

"Nah! Better to have all the fun you can and then get all work done at the last moment!"

Yomi smiled and shook her head at Tomo's brashness. She loved the girl, but she was so...impulsive.

"You're like my...worse half, Tomo."

"More like better half!", Tomo said, landing one last bounce before jumping and planting her feet squarely in the center of Yomi's room.

Yomi thought a moment and smiled.

"If we were half-and-half we'd be an interesting person.", she mused.

"You mean like one person?", Tomo asked.

"Yeah, let's see...we would be like an incredibly energetic and intelligent person."

Tomo's eyes went wide. And when her eyes went wide, Yomi knew it could only mean one thing: She had an idea; a bizarre idea.

"YOMI!! Let's have a kid!! She'd be awesome!", Tomo jumped with glee.

Yomi simply stood at sighed at the apparent ignorance of her friend.

"I guess you don't listen in Health class either. ...Two girls can't have kids.", she explained.

"Yeah, I knew that!", Tomo looked hurt. "But...what if it could happen, huh!? You're the one that always says, 'Nothing's impossible!'", she put on a rather unconvincing impression of Yomi.

"Well,...it's not likely to happen.", Yomi said.

"Have some imagination, Yomi! You're the one who brought this up in the first place!"

Yomi noded after a moment.

"Ok, well...she would have to have my brains and creativity."

"Alright! But she has my energy, right!? She would be UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC! And she can have some of my live-for-the-moment style too!", Tomo said, practically bouncing off the walls.

"I wonder if she'd have to wear glasses...?"

"Probably! With those soda bottles on your face all your kids are gonna be blind!", Tomo laughed, holding her stomach to keep herself upright.

"No, she would just need glasses is all...stylish ones too...", Yomi mused.

"And she certainly wouldn't have style without my hair!", Tomo said, posing with her short hair.

"Your hair is too short. I bet she would rather have it longer."

"Fine! But she has dark hair like me!"

"OK, then...she also inherited my bangs.", Yomi said.

"Well, she has brown eyes like me!"

"We both have brown eyes, Tomo."

"Oh...well, she's got my smile too!", Tomo said, flashing her patented 'Wildcat grin'.

"She sounds...kind of cute.", Yomi said with a blush.

"Maybe.", Tomo then laughed. "It's not like it'd ever happen. Not like I'm in love with you or anything. Hahah!"

"Yeah, well...me either!", Yomi said.

"Uhh...why did we start this anyway? It's kinda stupid.", Tomo cocked her head.

"Have some imagination!", Yomi rebutted with a smirk.

"Hey! That's my line! ...Jerk.", Tomo snided.

"At least our daughter would love her Kaa-san.", Yomi said, using the name she called her own mother.

"Nuh-uh! She would love her Mama more!", Tomo returned, using the name she used for her mother.

Yomi nearly broke down laughing. She definately was having fun with this.

"Would she call our other friends Ba-chan and stuff like kids do?", she wondered.

"Hah, that would be totally cute.", Tomo responded.

"Hmm...you know what she needs.", Yomi said.

"What?", Tomo asked. "A real dad?"

"No, ...she needs a name."

They sat there in wonderment and thought, perusing the deepest reaches of their minds to try and dredge up a respectable name for their thought-child.

"Ai?", Tomo said.

"No, too overused...hmm...Eiko maybe?"

"Nah, that's lame...how about like...uhh...Miko?"

"Maybe...or...how about Koyo..uhh..."

"Hey! She's my kid too!", Tomo said.

"I'm being creative! Shut up!", Yomi rebutted.

"Ok, Miss Smarty-Pants, how about Koyomiko.", Tomo said.

"It's a cute name...Koyomiko.", Yomi blushed slightly.

"Yeah! We can take care of Koyomiko together and I can bother you alllll day long!", Tomo sneered.

"Yeah, right...", Yomi let loose a wide yawn. It was getting late and they had school in the morning.

"Awww, shumones schweepy!", Tomo poked her friend's face as she pouted in jest.

"Shut up.", Yomi droned, swatting Tomo away. "I just worked too hard."

"Maybe if you listened to me and didn't work-", Tomo began but her diatribe was interrupted by Yomi's fist in her mouth.

"Tomo...go home. It's late.", Yomi said simply.

Tomo rubbed her injured jaw and walked over to the window she always entered. She turned back to Yomi with a grin on her face.

"Koyomiko thinks Kaa-san is too violent."

"Get out!", Yomi screamed, throwing a book at Tomo.

Tomo just giggled and jumped out the window to quickly disappear into the inky night.

Yomi lay on her bed after Tomo's departure. She plunged herself into thought that far exceeded that of many other eleven-year-olds. She concluded that she really did love Tomo. They had been friends for almost six years now. Sure, Yomi had had other friends, but none had stayed with her. None had stuck by her side. Except Tomo, of course.

Now that they had spoken about their hypothetical child, she felt a stronger connection to Tomo. She definately believed that their child would be something special. Something that would make them both happy. To be proud of one's own children is one of the Great Wonders of the Universe.

Yomi lay there, letting thoughts of Koyomiko fill her brain.

-----

Tomo, suffice to say, thought no different. Yomi was her 'other half'; always have been, always will be. Tomo would never admit that she would like to take care of a child, but indeed she did have maternal instincts.

She would love to have a child like the Koyomiko they invented, because she would contain all that she loved about Yomi along with all that she loved about herself.

So, as Tomo crawled back through her own window into her bedroom she continued to pour thought into the subject of their little girl.

Her mind was filled with it, and to be honest, her mind was rarely filled with anything.

-----

"It all came though, correct?", asked Dagon of the other alien man working at the computer console.

"Yes.", the man answered, shifting himself away from the screen to allow Dagon to see the scrolling series of nucleotide bases.

"This should work well.", Dagon smiled.

The man at the computer entered a series of strokes into the keyboard.

"It has been saved on the database."

"Excellent. Now we wait. I have a good feeling about these girls."

-----

And thus Koyomiko was officially created. Though, the question still stands; 'What is Koyomiko?'. Aside from being the Beast of the Apocalypse, she is in all technicality, a thought form brought into true life. Please allow the Great Eye of the Universe to explain. A thought form is a being brought into existance on the physical plane through intense thought and emotional outpouring. Thus, the being is given life by being assigned a personality and appearance. This is what Koyomiko is. The Dagon somatic cell reproduction was the last step in bringing her to life. She is nothing more than thoughts coded into a DNA sequence.

tgagtaaatc gatacatcat acgcgcgctc ctctggccgc ccctccctcc gacgatcggg

Isn't that what all living beings are? Aren't all living beings nothing but thoughts of some godhead? Thus, all beings are encoded into a sequence, be it RNA or DNA. Life is nothing but a sequence given to all beings.

gaccctggcg ggcggcagga ggacatggcc agcgacgccg tgcagagtga gcctcgcagc tggtccctgc tagagcagct gggcctggcc ggggcagacc tggcggcccc cggggtacag

Everything is a thought form. Reality is how it is seen by the individual. To crawl into the brain of another is to deny one's own reality. Yet, true understanding of all workings comes from this view of differential reality.

cagcagctgg agctggagcg ggagcggctg cggcgggaaa tccgcaagga gctgaagctg aaggagggtg ctgagaacct gcggcgggcc accactgacc tgggccgcag cctgggcccc gtagagctgc tgctgcgggg ctcctcgcgc cgcctcgacc tgctgcacca gcagctgcag

Everything alive exists for a purpose. Expand your thoughts, reader of this tome, and discover your purpose.

For all is encoded within these strands.

gagctgcacg cccacgtggt gcttcccgac ccggcggcca cccacgatgg cccccagtcc cctggtgcgg gtggccccac ctgctcggcc accaacctga gccgcgtggc gggcctggag aagcagttgg ccattgagct gaaggtgaag cagggggcgg agaacatgat ccagacctac agcaatggca gcaccaagga ccggaagctg ctgctgacag cccagcagat gttgcagga

But life is not at their mercy.

agtaagacca agattgacat catccgcatg caactccgcc gggcgctgca ggccgaccag ctggagaacc aggcagcccc ggatgacacc caagggagtc ctgacctggg ggctgtggag ctgcgcatcg aagagctgcg gcaccacttc cgagtggagc acgcggtggc cgagggtgcc aagaacgtac tgcgcctgct cagcgctgcc aaggccccgg accgcaaggc agtcagcgag gcccaggaga aattgacaga atccaaccag aagctggggc tgctgcggga ggctctggag

We are nothing but letters. And all can be changed, destroyed even, by a simple change in one of those letters. Letters that represent the chemicals of life. Our entire being, all that we are, cn be reduced to simple letters.

cggagacttg gggagctgcc cgccgaccac cccaaggggc ggctgctgcg agaagagctc gctgcggcct cctccgctgc cttcagcacc cgcctggccg ggccctttcc cgccacgcac tacagcaccc tgtgcaagcc cgcgccgctc acagggaccc tggaggtacg agtggtgggc tgcagagacc tcccagagac catcccgtgg aaccctaccc cctcaatggg gggacctggg accccagaca gccgcccccc cttcctgagc cgcccagccc ggggccttta cagccgaagc ggaagcctca gtggccggag cagcctcaaa gcagaagccg agaacaccag tgaagtcagc

Encoded within is who we are.

actgtgctta agctggataa cacagtggtg gggcagacgt cttggaagcc atgtggcccc aatgcctggg accagagctt cactctggag ctggaaaggg cacgggaact ggagttggct gtgttctggc gggaccagcg gggcctgtgt gccctcaaat tcctgaagtt ggaggatttc ttggacaatg agaggcatga ggtgcagctg gacatggaac cccagggctg cctggtggct gaggtcacct tccgcaaccc tgtcattgag aggattcctc ggctccgacg gcagaagaaa attttctcca agcagcaagg gaaggcgttc cagcgtgcta ggcagatgaa catcgatgtc gccacgtggg tgcggctgct ccggaggctc atccccaatg ccacgggcac aggcaccttt

Encoded within is our potential...

* * *

**I had a spectacular time writing 'Helix' and I hope you all had a good time reading it as well! Through talks with various authors and readers of this community I have realized that 'Helix' is quite the popular fic, and I thank you all for reading it.**

**Thus, my next fic will continue this storyline, except far into the future.**

**Don't miss 'Terra Anima' Coming soon!**

**(Oh, and for all those who care, that nucleotide sequence is approximately half of the gene that encodes the protein 'kinase')**

**One last thing, I usually don't ask things like this of my reviewers but I am actually very curious of something. If you can, replace yourself with one of the characters in 'Helix' and tell me how you would react under the same circumstances. I'm just curious is all...**

**Thanks,**

**-Jay**


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